A Tour With Before You Exit!
by BYEkim
Summary: Braiden's little sister joins the band on tour. Riley/OC  Riley McDonough, Connor McDonough, Thomas Silvers, Braiden Wood.
1. The Tour Begins

"Em, hurry up we've got to be at the guy's house soon."

"I'll be down in a sec, don't panic!"

I glanced around the room, feeling like I had forgotten something. I saw the edge of my notebook from under my pillow. Shit! I almost fainted realising I'd nearly left behind the only thing that keeps me from going insane. I chucked it in my duffel bag then zipped my suitcase closed.

I was going on tour with my older brother's band Before you Exit. Braiden Wood is my brother in case you're wondering. It may seem weird but him and his friends have been the only real friends I've ever had, I'm probably the most socially awkward person you will meet and I will stay that way until I can trust you. There all like older brothers to me in a way, I've got them all wrapped around my fingers.

Well, all except Riley. He's the one I'm closest too in the band, I suppose it's because we've always been the babies of the group and always been put together. I've had a crush on him for the past few years, maybe even longer; okay truthfully since the day I met him. At first I thought it was a stupid crush I would eventually get over, but every time I'm around him all I want to do is impress him.

I dragged my suitcase downstairs to find Braiden watching Sponge bob. I kicked my suitcase to the floor to get his attention. "That was a tad too dramatic, don't you think?" He said smiling looking over at me once he had turned off the TV.

"When do we need to leave? Oh great brother," I asked.

"Sarcasm," He said while laughing, "Right now if we're going to get there on time." We rushed out of the house, loading our bags into the back. When I hopped in the car Braiden had already put music on and was starting the car.

...

By the time we got to the McDonough household my eardrums ached from the loud music and Braiden's loud chatter about how exciting the tour would be. Toby ran out of the house to greet us, man hugging Braiden. When he came over to me I squeezed him tight, I'd always had a soft spot for the little dude, he was defiantly going to be a heart breaker when he was older.

Toby quickly pulled us into the house where everyone was waiting. Mrs. McDonough rushed over and gave me a long hug while her husband nodded and smiled at me over her shoulder unable to greet me. "Can I get either of you a drink or something to eat?"She asked us both while moving over to hug Braiden, as Connor and Riley walked into the room I could see them both roll their eyes at their mother's behaviour.

"No thank you," Braiden politely answered before she nodded and walked out of the room.

Connor walked over and gave me a quick hug before pushing Riley out of the way so he could talk to Braiden. He looked over at me pretending to be sad making me struggle to hold in my laughter. I opened my arms greeting him for a hug; he grinned and quickly walked over to me and lifted me up slightly so I was standing on my tip-toes.

The doorbell then rang making us let go of each other, when Toby opened the door Thomas ran in grinning at us. "It's tour time!"He shouted making us all laugh at him. He gave me a quick hug and kiss on the forehead before moving down the line to greet the others.

Once everyone was settled, we headed to the Camper-van which was now outside and loaded everything on. Once everything was loaded it was dark out and we were all tired. Everyone quickly went over to say their last goodbyes to their family while Braiden and I stood with their manager Phil; our parents were away for work so we had said our goodbyes last week. That was probably why Braiden and I were so close, he had grown up looking after me better than our parents who we were lucky to see for seven days of the month.

...

When I got on the van everyone was rushing to find where they would be sleeping, I saw Riley waving at me from the back of the van where there was two bunk beds away from everyone else. As I got closer I saw that we had been chucked in the area that was being used to store some of the guy's suitcases. There were small bunks facing each other on the floor, while the top ones were full of bags.

"We've both been chucked over here because were the least loved," Riley said while pouting his lip making him look adorable.

"We can have our own fun," I replied with a laugh making him grin.

I went to the bathroom to quickly change into my pyjamas, when I got back to the bunk Riley already asleep, it always amazed me how he could fall asleep so quickly. I lied in bed waiting to drift off into my own slumber, blocking out the partying that was going on in the front of the bus.

...

"Emma, wake up!" I felt someone whispering in my ear and gently tapping my shoulder.

"Huh?"I woke up quickly looking around; Riley was leaning by my bunk laughing at me.

"Wake up, were getting off for breakfast soon," He said.

"Five more minutes," I moaned before pulling the cover over my head. I heard him faintly laughing again.

"Okay, you asked for it!"He was suddenly on top of me tickling my sides making me scream out in shock.

"I'll get up! Just stop tickling me!"I begged him. Once he stopped, I pulled the cover off my head and looked at him. I was shocked at how close he was too me. Without realising it we were both moving closer to each other. Just as his lips were about to brush against mine we heard a shout from the front of the van.

"NO YOU CHEATED!"I could tell it was Thomas, probably mad about losing on the x-box too someone. I was going to get him later for ruining the moment.

Riley smiled at me before quickly kissing my forehead and walking out to the front of the van where everyone would be sitting around. Once I had calmed down from shock, I got up and changed into my old black skinny jeans and JAQK glamour kills hoodie that used to be Braiden's. I put my hair in a messy bun, leaving it curly and walked out to the front of the van.

By the time I got there, people had all ready started leaving so I decided to get out as well needing the fresh air. I heard someone else get out of the van and saw it was Riley, Connor and Toby. Toby came over and gave me a quick hug which Riley joined into making me laugh.

"We should have a piggy back race!"Toby shouted making me flinch back from in fright which caused Connor to laugh.

"Toby's mine!"Connor screamed and grabbed Toby before Riley and I could react.

"Fine! We'll still win," Riley argued before crouching down so I could jump on his back. I was glad he couldn't see me because as soon as his hands went to my thighs I felt my face heat up. I put my chin to rest on his shoulder and put my arms around him and held on tight knowing he was going to go as fast as he could because he didn't want to lose against his brothers.

"Okay, Ready, Set, Go!"Toby shouted. Riley sprinted off but I could see Connor and Toby slightly ahead, when we were halfway to the restaurant Riley started to speed up overtaking Connor and nearly making us fall over. We reached the door only a second before Toby and Connor but Riley still did a victory dance with me still on his back making us all laugh.

When we got inside everyone was already in there, the guy's from All Time Low and A Rocket to the moon gave us a quick wave but they were all too busy eating.

"Nice hoodie Emma!"Jack shouted over making everyone roll their eyes.

"Thanks, but the guy that designed it is a douche!"I shouted over laughing.

"I totally agree!"He shouted back with a wink. I found it amusing how at home I felt with all of them, normally I hated talking in big crowds like this.

...

For the next few hours we all sat in the front area of the van talking and watching the music channels on the TV.

When we reached the venue everyone went off to get their stuff that they needed to take in while I grabbed my camera knowing they'd want me to film as much as possible so they could put it onto their channel. I then followed everyone off the van towards the building secretly filming them walking without them realising, I was sort of hurt at the fact that none of them had turned around to check if I was still with them.

Braiden caught onto what I was doing when we had been walking for about five minutes, he glared and started to run towards me. I dodged him and ran to hide behind Thomas.

Thomas folded his arms and smirked at Braiden showing him that he wasn't going to get me. I stuck my tongue out at him from behind Thomas' shoulder making everyone including Braiden laugh and carry on walking. I guess I could forgive Thomas now.

...

I sat next to Toby as the guys warmed up for the gig which was starting in an hour. "I've won," Toby shouted causing all the guys too look over.

"No you didn't you little cheater, you had two goes because I weren't looking!" I told him looking down at the scrupled bit of paper which we had been using too play tic tac toe on for the last five minutes. So far he was winning because I was attempting to eat a packet of Oreo's, drink a can of monster, while listening to the guys play.

"Well stop eating and actually try to win!"Toby exclaimed before stealing an Oreo out of my hand. I heard Braiden laugh from the other side of the room making me look innocently at him.

"Good luck with that Toby," He shouted over still laughing before going back to playing the guitar. I slouched down in my seat and carried on eating while glaring at my brother making him lose his concentration and stick his tongue out at me before carrying on playing.

...

I stood by the side of the stage recording the guys jumping about like hyper dogs on drugs trying to stop myself from laughing so it wouldn't ruin the video. It always brought a smile too my face seeing them so happy on the stage, this night was the first of many that I'd get to see those smiles. I watched as Toby walked on to the stage and sang the last chorus. Riley and Conner's smiles became bigger (if that was even possible) with proudness as they watched their younger brother sing with confidence.

I turned my head and started to watch Riley, it always made me slightly jealous when I heard all them girls declaring their love for him, they were all so much more prettier than me, even after the what I hoped was an almost kiss this morning I still wasn't sure how he felt about me. While I was over analysing everything in my head Riley turned to look at me and grinned at me, I smiled back and give him thumbs up while still holding the camera in my other hand.

I quickly hi fived Toby when he got off the stage and switched the camera into my other arm because I was starting to lose all feeling in it.

...

I stopped filming as soon as Connor said the goodbyes into the microphone and watched them all descend from the stage. Braiden came over and gave me a hug before going off too hi-five everyone. I looked over and saw Riley running over too me before he pulled me into a tight hug lifting me off the ground making me laugh.

"You stink," I muttered into his shoulder which probably wasn't the best area to be near at this very moment. He just laughed in response before quickly peaking my cheek before rushing off with the others guys hopefully to shower seen as none of them smelt good. I was glad they had all gone because I knew my face was probably as red as a tomato and I didn't feel like getting teased right at this moment.

...

As soon as we got back on the van, I went to grab my pyjamas which consisted of long Mickey Mouse bottoms and a City (Comma) State t-shirt that had faded too much to wear out. When I was done in the bathroom nearly everyone was in their bunks/beds and others were walking around like zombies so they'd probably be following everyone else's example soon.

Riley was already in his bunk with his eyes closed so he had probably already fallen asleep. Riley and I always kept the curtains to our bunks open whenever we were put in bunks next to each other, which was always. We made a promise that if one of us couldn't sleep at night or if we woke up early and we were bored or upset about something we would wake each other up. There had been a countless number of nights were neither of us had got any sleep because we had stayed up talking, even when we were at home.

It was kind of comforting too think that even if he didn't love me back, then he'd always be there as my best friend.

"Night Rile," I muttered.

"Night Em," I heard Riley mutter sleepily making me smile before starting to fall asleep.

...

When I woke up Riley was already up and out of his bunk. I stretched and put my notebook back under my quilt out of sight. I grabbed my black skinny jeans, glamour kills sweatshirt and my Hi-tops before running into the bathroom before anyone else could go in there. After I showered and changed I decided to leave my hair naturally curly seen as it looked a bit tame after the shower. I had a huge bruise on my elbow from accidently hitting by arm against the door handle trying to shower in the small bathroom; I didn't look as painful as it felt.

All the guys were already in the front of the van and changed by the time I had finished. "Morning," I screamed over the loud noise they were making. I received a mumble of good morning from Thomas and Connor who had their eyes glued onto the TV screen, a quick hug from Braiden, a nod and yawn from Toby and a smile from Riley.

I quickly made myself a bowl of cereal and sat down on the sofa next too Connor but stood up immediately and went to sit on my own at the table when he nearly elbowed me while doing his victory dance from winning on the x-box against Thomas nearly making me drop my food.

After I had eaten I went and sat next to Riley who was watching the others with amusement. I turned and put my legs over his lap making him quickly lift his arms up too prevent them getting squished, then putting them back to rest against my thighs. I then put my head against the back of the sofa next to his shoulder finally comfy.

I watched the others play Call a Duty for about 5 minutes but got bored and sneakily looked at Riley who was playing with a loose thread from my jeans. I saw Connor get his phone out and take a picture of us from the Connor of my eye but I was too comfy to care.

...

I sat in the merch booth with Dan while the others meet all their fans. I got the occasional Hello from some people but other than that they ignored me as I passed Dan the items they wanted but I was kind of happy with that.

Whenever there was no one waiting to buy something we would both loudly start to sing along to the music that was playing from the speakers in the venue.

'I feel like dancing tonight,

I'm gonna party like it's my civil right,

Everybody get kind of awesome.

It doesn't matter where,

I don't care if people stare,

Cause I feel like dancing tonight.'

We both Singed/Yelled while dancing on the spot like idiots. When I heard laughing I turned around and saw Connor bent over with laughter holding his sides. I jumped over the table and ran after him, seen as he was still laughing it slowed him down and gave me an advantage. We had reached the other side of the room before I caught up with him and jumped on his back making him fall into the barrier.

We both stood up laughing and had to lean against the barrier to stop ourselves from falling over again seen as our eyesight was blurry from the tears. After a few minutes we calmed down and quickly hugged before walking back over to everyone seeing that all the fans had gone.

"You idiots ready to go?"Thomas asked looking at us with amusement. For a reply Connor ran and tried to get Thomas in a head lock but ended up just getting pushed away.

...

When I collapsed in my bunk I accidently cut my hand on the edge of my notebook which was open by my pillow. I looked down at it confused not remembering putting it there; I shrugged it off and quickly chucked it to the end of the bunk when I saw Riley heading towards the bunk. I knew he had seen it when he raised his eyebrows at me once he had got into his bunk. I gave him a sweet smile before lying down and hiding my face in my pillow hoping he wouldn't ask me what it was, I knew I wouldn't be able to lie to him but I knew as soon as he would see it, he would figure out the majority of the song's I have written are about him.

I heard him chuckle quietly before lying down so I was safe until morning.

...

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters apart from my OC (Emma)**


	2. A Day In New York City

"Wake up!" someone yelled in my ear, I sat up quickly in shock to see Braiden next to my bunk laughing.

"It's our day off and were going into New York City!" He said smiling like an idiot "Good luck waking up Riley." After he was out of the room I crawled over to Riley and knelt next to his stomach. I sighed knowing this was going to be difficult.

"Rile wake up," I whispered into his ear while poking his forehead. His eyes flickered open after about five minutes of whispering and looked towards me and smiled. "You gotta get up, were all going out for the day!" I quickly kissed him on the forehead before going to get changed. I was quite impressed that I got halfway to the bathroom before shouting at myself in my mind for kissing him.

...

When I was dressed and ready everyone was still running about fussing so I went and sat down waiting for them. I took out my phone and looked at my twitter; I had a lot of mentions which was quite unusual. The first thing I saw was that Connor had tweeted the picture of me and Riley that he took the previous day and Riley had re-tweeted it. I hesitated before looking at my mentions;

_BYE_Amiee15 aww you're both so cute together ;3_

_BYEjess Adorable :) xxxx_

_BYEmrsRileym back off bitch, he's mine!_

After reading the first few I closed the app, not wanting any hate comments to ruin my mood. I put my phone in my pocket and closed my eyes waiting for the guys to get ready. By the time they had finished I was already half asleep on the sofa.

"Em, were leaving now," Riley whispered into my ear before picking me up off the sofa and put be on the ground. I looked around and saw the bus was empty but I could hear them all outside. "Come along!" Riley sang before grabbing my hand and skipped to the door making me laugh.

...

About five minutes into the walk I realised Riley hadn't let go of my hand, not that I minded but I could see the others starting to notice. I looked over at Braiden and he was raising his eyebrows at me but I quickly looked away.

I pulled out my camera from by coat pocket and started filming the buildings so Riley and Connor could edit it into the update. I saw Riley watching me so I turned the camera and started to film him so he started making weird faces in front of the camera, I let go of Riley's hand to turn off the camera and put it back in my pocket.

"Come on guys were going on the subway," Thomas shouted as he started running down the steps to go into the underground with the others following him. I followed them all down the stairs getting stuck behind a group of scary looking people. By the time I had gotten down to the bottom I could no longer see the guys, I could only see floods of people. I started to walk forward moving in-between people heading one way hoping it was the right direction. I could faintly hear someone calling my name so I changed direction hoping it was them and not someone just calling someone with the same name as me.

"There she is!"Thomas shouted pointing at me when I nearly fell out of the crowd. Braiden ran up to me and hugged me; I returned it and looked at the others confused over his shoulder who were looking as relived as him.

"We thought you'd been kidnapped!" Braiden explained once he let me going making me raise my eyebrows.

"Umm no, you just lost me in a large crowd," I replied making the others laugh and make Braiden look guilty before pulling me to stand next to the others.

Riley pulled me into a hug when I stood next to him, when he let go I yawned and laid my head against his shoulder. I listened to all the others talk about the plan for the day while waiting to get on the subway; they had apparently already bought the tickets while I was missing. Once it had arrived we all got on and went to stand as a group in the back.

Riley, Braiden and Thomas sat down on the available seats while Connor stayed standing up next to us. I pushed Braiden's hands off his knees and sat down making him roll his eyes and push me back off.

"Bully," I muttered, making a puppy dog face at him hoping he would change his mind but he just looked away before I could have any effect on him. When I turned to look at the other's Riley opened his arms gesturing me to go over. I walked and sat on his lap and put an arm around his neck as he put his arms around my waist. I loved how it was natural for us to act like this with feeling awkward.

...

Once we got off the subway, we started to walk through the city. Riley and I were walking in the back of the group messing about. Once again we were holding hands but I couldn't tell you how we got in that position.

"So Riley tell my lovely camera where were going," I said making Riley jokingly glare at the camera before talking.

"Were uh, going to the empire state building and Braiden's afraid of heights and were going to make him go to the top," He said before Connor stole the camera to film god knows what.

"Don't break my camera!"I shouted as he ran back to the front.

"You'll probably never see that camera again," Riley jokingly said making me punch him softly in his shoulder with my free hand.

...

When we got to the Empire State Building, I could see Braiden start to look nervous. As we all stood in the elevator I nudged Braiden to show him I was by him, I knew the calmness he was showing was just an act because he didn't want to come across as a wimp in front of his friends.

When we got to the top floor Braiden looked like he had calmed down a lot. When I looked over the edge I would happily admit that even I was scared, I hadn't realised it was this high up not to mention windy. I put my arms around myself and leant against Riley watching Braiden stand awkwardly with the wind pushing his clothes. My laughter was muffled when a blow a wind went in my mouth making me choke and shiver. Riley put his arm around me and started to rub my arm making me warm up immediately.

...

After a while we all decided to go and stand inside because it was so cold, I still hadn't been given my camera back yet but I could see Thomas filming Connor with it. Riley still had his arm around me as we watched Braiden walk into the middle of the room and hold out his hand.

"Braiden's putting his hand out and seeing if people will shake his hand," I heard Connor say to the camera. We stood and watched him for at least half an hour before he gave up and walked back towards us.

"I don't understand why they all won't shake my hand," he said laughing.

"Maybe it's because you look weird," Connor said before walking towards the elevator with us following laughing at the look of shock on Bradien's face.

...

"That was some good pizza!"I said as I threw my napkin on the table. All the others were only halfway through eating theirs.

"Is that why you inhaled it?" Braiden asked with a mouthful of food.

"Yes," I mumbled and stole his drink and took a sip making him glare at me.

"Hey, I paid for that... and your food in fact," He complained. I stuck my tongue out at him and carried on as normal waiting for them all to finish, secretly hoping one of them wouldn't finish their food so I could have the leftovers.

After we had all finished eating we all went for a walk around, we stopped to watch people ice skating not daring to do it ourselves. I put my head on Riley's shoulder listening to the others laugh about people falling and then complain when they didn't fall, waiting for them to lose interest.

...

When we got off the subway I was starting to get tired and I couldn't be bothered to walk anymore. "Braiden you love me right?" I asked him with a sweet smile. He turned and looked at me suspiciously while the others stopped walking started laughing already knowing what I was trying to do.

"What do you want?"He hesitantly asked.

"Can I have a piggy back please, I'm tired!"

"Fine," He sighed and bent down allowing me to get on his back.

"Thank you, I love you too bro," I mumbled into his neck making him shake with silent laughter.

"So...you play the guitar don't you?" he asked making me look down at him.

"You're the one who taught me why are you asking me that or is your brain now made of jelly from seeing the ground at such height?"I replied.

"Were you ever going to play me them song's you had written or were you planning on keeping them a secret?"He asked me quietly. I think it was safe to say my heart nearly stopped beating because it was pumping so fast at this point.

"You...you found my book?"I asked my voice going an octave higher than usual.

"Yeah, they were pretty good little sis," He answered just before we got back to the van.

I quickly got off his back and walked onto the van before anyone could open the door. I could faintly here the others asking Braiden if I was okay. I got in my bunk and put my pillow over my head so Riley would think I was asleep. I can't let him hear them song's, he'll know straight away that the song's are about him and he'll never want to talk to me again.

...


	3. Stay Beautiful

When I woke the next morning after I had changed, I went and sat in the front lounge with everyone, Braiden quickly looked up at me from his guitar but looked down again nervously. I looked over at Riley who was staring at me looking worried. "Are you okay?"He silently mouthed. I smiled slightly and nodded at him before looking down at my socks.

"Guys come on we're going to go and hang out on the guys from All Time Low's bus for a while!" Thomas shouted making me stand up follow them quickly grabbing my camera off the table as I went.

Connor gave me quick pat on the back before walking ahead with me following slightly behind him. I didn't really want to face anyone because I knew Braiden would make me play one of my song's at one point and everything would go downhill from there, Riley won't talk to me, everyone else will feel sorry for me...

...

"Hey it's the mini me's plus Emma!"Alex shouted as we got onto the bus. Alex quickly hugged me before moving behind me to greet the others. Vinny hi-fived me from his spot on the sofa, looking like he couldn't be bothered to move. Rian walked over and hugged me, offering me any drinks which I polity declined. Jack then ran over and lifted me off the ground and spun me around making me laugh and Zac was no where to be seen.

"What! Why are you not advertising my clothing range? I'm paying you; you're crap at your job!" He shouted jokingly glaring at me.

"I'm still waiting on Wednesday's pay, until I receive it, no advertisement for you!" I told him holding in my laughter.

"No, that's not acceptable you're fired!"He shouted before sitting back on the sofa as I walked the past him and sat by Thomas' feet.

"Shut up Jack!"Alex screamed as he sat down making everyone laugh. As all of them spoke about making a funny video, I could see Braiden and Riley glancing at me from the other side of the room every so often.

"Emma, can you film us?"Rian asked as everyone was discussing what to say. I nodded and got out my camera, while looking at Connor to show him it was filming.

"Right so were here with the guys from All Time Low, everyone say hi!"Connor said making everyone say hello. "Jack say hi!" I turned the camera so Jack could wave. "And were on the My Small Package Tour and were really having a good time and everything, we just wanna thank them for opening up for us on the tour and everything."

"Thank you guys," Alex said going along with Connor's story.

"It's a pleasure honestly," Rian said, I nearly laughed only now noticing he had his arm around Alex's shoulder.

"Well you know I grew up in the 90's, before you were born but...I knew I was going to grow up listening to you guys, I just knew..."Jack said.

"Yeah, I remember back when we used to cover, umm you know cover you guys and it's just..."Rian interrupted.

"Last week," Alex imputed.

"It was last week, yeah," Rian said nodding to Alex, "its crazy, I feel like we were covering their music before they were even a band, it's weird."

"It's cool you know, I feel like every day when I write a song lyric or a line I just feel like I'm basically writing what you guys would say," Alex told them looking at them all."I'm just trying to write what I think you guys would say."

"Were living through them," Rian said. I turned the camera to Riley and Braiden who were both awkwardly standing in the doorway."And the fact that you bring us out, you let us play, you know even if it is ten minutes before doors..."

"Yeah, I mean even though when were usually playing when there's like ten kids in the room-"Alex started to say.

"Before door's even really," Rian interrupted.

"But it's just that fact that you guys would even, hang out with us and be on the same bus, it's cool man," Alex carried on saying.

"It's cool that you let us part our RV so close to your bus, because I mean four miles isn't that close but I close enough to walk," Jack said as Rian and Alex tried to talk over him.

"You guys are in an RV?"Connor asked them pretending to look shocked.

"Did you guys rent it or is it yours?" Thomas asked, speaking for the first time.

"It was one of them rent across American type things, our parents had to do it for us, but..."Rian imputed.

"Your bus usually takes up all the parking so, it's parked like five miles from here so we just took cabs," Alex explained.

"I walked, I didn't even know a cab was even an option," Jack told them.

"They gave us gas money, which we are very appreciative of," Rian said.

"Wait what are we giving you for gas money?"Connor asked them.

"$12,"Alex replied looking around the bus.

"$12, who's idea was that?"Connor asked, Thomas put his hand up and smiled at the camera.

"Thomas said he thought you guys could afford it."

"It's cool though because we sell one t-shirt and we have a two song demo type thing," Alex said changing the subject.

"See, we have six designs but you guys will only let us sell two, I don't get it!" Jack explained.

"No, were only allowed to sell one, we sell two when there not around," Rian said quietly.

"Wait, you guys are selling two?" Riley finally spoke making me smile.

"No! He's just kidding," they all shouted making Riley nearly laugh.

"But no, for real thank you," Alex said.

"No problem!"Connor said while the others agreed.

"It's a dream come true!"Rian said before I turned off my camera. Once I started laughing everyone copied my actions.

...

Once we were back in the van, we all sat around the front area talking, I was in a much better mood now after listening to all of them joke about.

"Hey Emma, why don't you play us one of your song's?"Braiden asked me, making me freeze halfway from reaching out to grab a handful of chips. All the happiness I had felt three seconds ago were now gone.

"You write songs?", "Why didn't you tell us?", "Someone get Em a guitar!" Everyone was shouting at the same time making my head hurt. Braiden walked in the room holding my book, I could see him flicking through the pages before stopping on a page and putting the book next to me, _Stay Beautiful,_ I had originally used Riley's name in the song but changed it to He just in case anyone found the book, thank god I did no_w._A guitar was suddenly put on my lap and look up for the first time to see their excited faces.

"What?"I asked Braiden, my voice sounding like I was on helium.

"Play the song for us!"He answered with a huge grin. I looked at the others who nodded at me encouragingly. I took a deep breath before looking down and starting to sing and play the song for them.

_His eyes are like a jungle_  
><em>He smiles, it's like the radio<em>  
><em>He whispers songs into my window<em>  
><em>In words nobody knows<em>  
><em>There's pretty girls on every corner<em>  
><em>That watch him as he's walking home<em>  
><em>Saying, does he know<em>  
><em>Will you ever know<em>  
><em><br>You're beautiful_  
><em>Every little piece love, don't you know<em>  
><em>You're really gonna be someone, ask anyone<em>  
><em>When you find everything you looked for<em>  
><em>I hope your life leads you back to my door<em>  
><em>Oh but if it don't, stay beautiful<em>

_You're beautiful_  
><em>Every little piece love, don't you know<em>  
><em>You're really gonna be someone, ask anyone<em>  
><em>When you find everything you looked for<em>  
><em>I hope your life leads you back to my door<em>  
><em>Oh but if it don't, stay beautiful<em>

_He finds another way to be_  
><em>The highlight of my day<em>  
><em>I'm taking pictures in my mind<em>  
><em>So I can save them for a rainy day<em>  
><em>It's hard to make conversation<em>  
><em>When he's taking my breath away<em>  
><em>I should say, hey by the way<em>

_If you and I are a story_  
><em>that never gets told<em>  
><em>if what you are is a daydream<em>  
><em>I'll never get to hold, at least you'll know<em>

_You're beautiful every little piece love,_  
><em>and don't you know you're really gonna be someone ask anyone.<em>  
><em>And when you find everything you looked for,<em>  
><em>I hope your life leads you back to my front door.<em>  
><em>oh but if it don't will you stay<em>  
><em>beautiful beautiful beautiful<em>  
><em>beautiful beautiful beautiful<em>  
><em>la la la<em>  
><em>Oh, oh oh oh,<em>  
><em>oh but if it don't,<em>  
><em>stay beautiful<em>  
><em>stay beautiful<em>  
><em>Na na na na na<em>

"Holy shit!"I heard Braiden mutter quietly before quickly coming to hug me, making me look up for the first time since I started singing. Everyone else closely followed even Riley who had an unreadable look on his face. "Guy's, let's go get ready for the show," Braiden glanced at Riley before pushing the others out of the room.

"That song was amazing Em's," Riley said grinning making me sigh in relief. He pulled me into a tight bug which I returned, burying my head into his neck.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"So...that guy it's about, he must be stupid not to realise the mistake he's making," He said looking a bit upset making get a spur of confidence.

"You can be pretty stupid at times," I half whispered looking him in the eye. He grinned at me and pulled me into a tighter hug.

"Did you just call me stupid?"I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Yep," I said, popping the _'P'_.

We both started to lean towards each other, this time no one was here to interrupt us. As his lips touched mine, it felt like a million fireworks going off around us. I moved my arms around his neck as his sneaked around my waist. When we both moved back to breath, we smiled at each other.

"We should have done that a long time ago," Riley said as he pushed a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. I bit my lip and nodded in response.

"Guys aren't you coming?"Thomas said as he opened the door. He stopped where he was and look at the position we were in."About time to be honest," he said before smiling and walking back out of the van.

"We better go God knows what he's telling the others," I said making Riley laugh and kiss my forehead before grabbing my hand and leading us out towards everyone who stood there making kissy faces and us.

...


	4. A Day With A Rocket To The Moon

The next morning when I woke up I couldn't help but smile at Riley's sleeping form, I had been scared that when I woke up I would have turned out to have been a dream, but seeing us holding hands across the floor was all the proof I needed. I unlaced mine and Riley's hand's and got out of the bunk quietly trying not to wake him up. When I walked in to the front area of the van I could see that everyone was still asleep. I looked over at the clock and saw it was only _9;30am,_ it felt strange being up this early. When I had finished making myself a bowl of cereal I saw Riley walking towards me yawning.

"Morning," He said quickly giving me a kiss before pulling me into a hug.

"Because you've both admitted you like each other now, or whatever is going on with you two, does it mean we have to witness this every day?"Thomas mumbled glaring at us as he sat up in his bed.

"Shut up!"I muttered into Riley's shoulder.

"I'm not sure whether I should think they're cute together or to scream at him to get away from my sister," Braiden said from his bunk.

"Yeah, we get the message, shut up!"Riley said giving me a kiss on the forehead before pulling out of the hug and going to make himself breakfast.

I sat down to eat my cereal as the others woke up and got out of the bunks. Braiden got out of his bunk and ruffled my hair while going past making me glare at him, then he jokingly shoved Riley out the way before turning to give me an innocent smile making me give him the middle finger. He pretended to look shocked before smiling and walking towards the bathroom. Thomas sat down next to me yawning while Connor took up the other sofa which had been turned back from being a pull-out bed.

"So, what are we doing today?"I asked them both.

"Umm, Nick said he was going to come on here after the first stop to help us write some songs," Connor replied with a shrug "We'll probably just hang with the others for the rest of the day." I nodded and carried on eating while listening to them both talk about tonight's show, we were already halfway through the tour I couldn't believe how quickly it had gone but the guy's had loads planned for as soon as they were finished so hopefully I could stay with them.

...

"Fresh air!"Connor shouted as we got off the van for a pit stop. I laughed and followed the others into the gas station to get some snacks. I started eating my packet of chips as soon as I was out the door, while the others walked behind me. When we all reached the van Nick and Andrew stood with a guitar talking to Phil while waiting for us.

"W'sup guys?"Nick said when he saw us going towards him.

"Same old, same old!"Connor said giving a man hug with the other's behind him.

"Hey Emma," Nick said while giving me a quick hug after Andrew had Hi-fived me "So, what's this about you and Riley then? About time really!"He made a weird movement with his eyebrows making me look confused at him.

"How did you find out so soon?"I asked shocked not only at the fact that he knew, but at the fact that he seemed to know I had liked Riley previously.

"Word spreads quickly in an environment like this darling," He replied before heading onto the van.

By the time I had got onto the van, Nick, Andrew, Connor and Riley were all in the back area while Thomas and Connor were sitting in the front part being lazy. "Should we watch a movie?"I asked them as I sat down next to Braiden who looked up at me from his laptop.

"Shouldn't you do some school work?"He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Well..."I replied trying to think of an excuse but got distracted by Thomas laughing in the background. Braiden put the laptop on my lap and stood up muttering something about going back to sleep. Thomas started laughing the moment Braiden was in his bunk making me glare at him.

"Glare all you want, I'm not the one stuck doing school work," He said before putting his earphones in and lying back down in his bunk.

...

After I had finished all my work I could still here the other's playing in the back so I grabbed my camera and walked in to listen to them. The four of them glanced up briefly as I stood by them but they went back to full concentration a second later. After I had filmed them for a bit, I chucked my camera into Connor's bunk which was closest and walked back into the front area. Everyone was still doing their own thing so I grabbed my laptop and decided to watch a movie to pass some time. After a while of deciding I choose to watch Easy A, I normally don't like chick flick movies but this one way definitely an exception. When I was halfway through the movie Bradien came and sat by me and pulled the earphones from the laptop so he could hear the movie, he would never admit it but I knew he secretly liked this movie.

"She just mentioned about them getting married, how isn't he freaking out?"Braiden asked as the closing credits started.

"It's a movie B!"I told him laughing while I turned off my laptop.

"Still..."he muttered as the others walked into the room.

...

When the van stopped we were all excited to get off the van to stretch our legs for a while. I pulled my hoodie over my head quickly and jumped off the bus and waited for the others to get off.

"What's going down today boys?"Eric asked everyone, great I'm classed as a boy now!

"Were going to subway," Andrew said, I turned and saw Riley attempting to get his jacket on while trying to keep up with us all making me laugh, he grinned and walked closer to me. When he had finally got his jacket on he grabbed my hand and walked behind the others.

"I'm a target fan myself," I heard Nick say, I was confused at what they were talking about seen as I had zoned out of the conversation because I was watching Riley.

When we got into the store Connor got inside the trolley while Andrew pushed him around making us laugh. We ended up having to put our items around him in the trolley making him stuck in there until we got to the check-out.

After we had got everything we needed, we rushed out of the store and into the van quickly trying to get to the venue in time for sound check.

...

As the guys warmed up for sound-check I stood in the middle of the hall filming them seen as I had nothing else to do. Riley started walking towards me pointing at the camera looking a bit like a mad man. When he stood in-front of me I burst out laughing making him smile.

"What on earth was that?"I asked him still laughing.

"Nothing..."He replied still smiling at me.

"Riley, get you're tiny ass on the stage now!"Thomas shouted from behind his drum kit. Riley looked shocked at him for a moment before quickly rushing up to the stage.

"I just got you being mean on film Thomas!"I shouted once I had put my camera in my pocket. Thomas rolled his eyes in response before shouting at the others to start. I knew he wanted to rush sound-check so he could play football with some of the others in the green room before the show started.

...

When I walked into the dressing room backstage after going to the toilet the first thing I saw was Nick lying on the floor with Riley massaging his back. I burst out laughing and gave Connor a questioning glance who just shrugged at me and walked out of the room with his phone.

"Oh, Emma's getting jealous, back of while you still have a chance Nick!"Justin said from his spot by the door.

"Stay away from my man Nick!"I said glaring at him jokingly. I saw Riley grinning at me from the corner of my eye making smile at him. He winked at me quickly before going back to work on massaging Nick's back. He looks like he's pretty good at it; I'll have to make him do it to me one day...

"Yes! Right there!"I snapped out of my thoughts and laughed at the noises Nick was making.

"And that's my queue to leave," I said while getting up. Nick looked over at me and laughed before putting his head back on the floor.

"Look, you've made Emma uncomfortable now!"Justin shouted looking up at Nick from his phone. I laughed and brushed Riley's hair out of his face quickly while passing him to the door.

"See you all later," I shouted over my shoulder when I reached the door. I heard Nick and Justin say a goodbye.

"See you later Em!"Riley shouted making me laugh.

"Dude, you are completely whipped!"Nick mumbled loud enough for me to her, making me blush and rush down the corridor.

...

"Hey bro" I said while sitting next to Braiden who was playing on his guitar in one of the corridors looking tired after playing their set.

"Hey little sis," He replied smiling.

"What are you up to?"I asked him looking at his guitar making him laugh.

"Just playing my guitar," He said while trying to copy my voice."I was actually hoping you'd play me another song," He gave me a pleading look making me roll my eyes.

"Fine," I sighed taking the guitar off him and quickly tuning it making him grin.

I fake coughed and shuffled a bit pretending to take it very seriously. I actually felt excited to play seen as it was just Braiden here but I'd have to sing louder than normal seen as All Time Low we're in the middle of playing their set.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am going to play my very own song for you, called Beautiful Eyes! Enjoy!" I said in a professional voice making Braiden roll his eyes.

_Your beautiful eyes_  
><em>stare right into my eyes<em>  
><em>and sometimes<em>  
><em>I think of you late at night<em>  
><em>I don't know why<em>  
><em>I wanna be somewhere where you are<em>  
><em>I wanna be where<em>

_You're here_  
><em>your eyes are looking into mine<em>  
><em>so baby make me fly<em>  
><em>my heart has never felt this way before<em>  
><em>I'm looking through your<em>  
><em>I'm looking through your eyes<em>

_I wake up, I'm alive_  
><em>in only a little while, I cry<em>  
><em>'Cause you're my lullaby<em>  
><em>so baby come hold me tight<em>  
><em>'cause I, I<br>I wanna be everything you need_  
><em>I wanna be where<em>

_You're here_  
><em>your eyes are looking into mine<em>  
><em>so baby make me fly<em>  
><em>my heart has never felt this way before<em>  
><em>I'm looking through your<em>  
><em>I'm looking through your eyes<em>

_Just as long as your mine_  
><em>I'll be your everything tonight.<em>  
><em>Let me love you<em>  
><em>kiss you<em>  
><em>baby let me miss you<em>  
><em>Let me see your<em>  
><em>Dream about<em>  
><em>Dream about<em>  
><em>Dream about your eyes<em>  
><em>Eyes, eyes, eyes<em>  
><em>Beautiful eyes<em>

I raised my hands dramatically and pretended to do a bow before handing the guitar over to Braiden who was smiling. "That was brilliant, why don't you play one of your song's on stage tonight," Braiden said looking like he already knew the answer.

"Dear brother, you make me get on that stage and I make sure you're testicalles never function correctly. Got it?"I asked sweetly.

"Yes," He replied looking scared.

...

When Braiden and I got into the main seating room where everyone was Riley was sleeping on the sofa with everyone walking quietly around him. At first I thought they we're being nice for once and letting him sleep but then I noticed Connor starting to put food on him while everyone followed his example.

"Connor, don't you think that's a bit mean?"I hesitantly asked, I didn't want to be a buzz kill but if that was me I'd be pissed.

"Nope, stand quietly in the corner Emma!"He said jokingly pushing me out of the way. "He was stupid enough to fall asleep back here."

When they we're done decorating him I stood by the door way, I felt guilty at what they we're about to do, Riley would stop them if they we're going to prank me, I hope...

"1, 2, 3,"Connor said before they all screamed by Riley making me flinch as it was so loud. I laughed quietly when I heard them all complain when he didn't wake up. They should know by now that nothing can wake Riley up, I'd always been worried about that, what would happen if the fire alarm went off in his house and he didn't hear it... My thoughts were cut short when the guys started screaming again. After a few minutes of screaming I saw Riley turn over and look up at the guys confused.

"Everybody decorated you while you we're asleep!"Connor said happily like a little child as everyone walked out of the room laughing. I watched Riley get up and walk towards me still half asleep. When he reached me I smiled at him and offered him a hand to help him walk. He took my hand a leaned against me rubbing his eyes with his free hand as Connor walked beside us telling him about how dead he was while asleep making me roll my eyes at him.

Once we got back to the van Riley hugged me before walking straight to his bunk still half asleep making everyone laugh. "Maybe we should have let him stay asleep like Emma said" Thomas said still laughing making me smile and shake my head before walking to my bunk. They never listen to me.

...


	5. Halloween

"It's Halloween!" Toby shouted as he got onto the van. We all looked up at him and smiled; we hadn't seen him for a few days because he had school-work to do and he had been going out with the McDonough parents.

Riley ran over quickly to give him a hug with Connor following slightly behind. When they were done we all went over to greet him quickly before sitting back down. I was sitting on the sofa next to Braiden and Thomas while everyone else was spread out on the available seats. There weren't any seats left so Toby was stuck with sitting on Riley knee.

"So, what are you all dressing up as?" Toby asked grinning, I laughed at how excited he was and put my head on Braiden's shoulder, I was still tired even though I had been up for at least an hour. Braiden ruffled my hair before putting his arm around me like he used to do when we were little.

"Well, we were thinking of dressing up as the guys from All Time Low seen as there were four of us," Connor told him while the others nodded.

"Cool, I'm dressing up as Batman," He commented making everyone grin. "What about you Emma?"

"You'll have to wait and see won't you little dude," I said grinning making him roll his eyes at me.

"Have you got any candy on here?" He asked changing the topic.

"Toby, you're going to be eating loads tonight, you don't need some now," Connor said turning into the parent figure you rarely saw, he normally let Toby do what he wanted but there were a few occasions like this.

"Oh, just one. Please."Toby nagged making Connor roll his eyes and throw him a piece of candy to shut him up. "Thanks, so what are you doing today?"

"Well, we need to go shopping to buy stuff and then we have to go to the venue and do sound check..." Connor told him looking at us all for a response.

"Yeah, we can just go to the store as soon as we stop to get it over with," Thomas replied.

"Do you actually know what you're dressing up as?" Braiden asked me.

"No clue," I muttered before we both laughed at how unorganised I was. "Don't tell Toby or he'll kill me."

...

When the van then stopped we all rushed into the shop, everyone walked off to find where the Halloween section was. I looked up and saw a sign pointing the opposite way everyone else went in saying _'Halloween items'_, I rolled my eyes and pulled Riley with me in that direction. He looked at me confused for a second before he noticed the sign and laughed.

"I'm guessing they didn't see that sign," He commented as we found the costumes. I few seconds later we could hear them walking towards us.

"There is it," Thomas shouted as we walked around the corner, he froze and looked at us confused when he saw us standing there. "How did you get here before us?"

"We followed the signs," Riley said as I quietly laughed. Thomas made a face at us before he walked over and put on a police man hat and smiled at us. Riley and Braiden both walked over and got a mask each while Connor filmed them.

"Hey," Riley said to Thomas in a robotic voice making me look at him confused. "How are you?" Thomas just laughed as a reply and waved at the camera. "Hey how's it going?"

Connor turned off the camera and turned to look at the guys while I stood behind him. "Okay guys, let's get to work!" The four of them then quickly looked around the shelves for anything that would help them look like the guys from All Time Low. Thomas ended up buying a bald cap to make him look like Rian, Braiden bought a fake wig and sideburns to make him look like Jack and Riley bought a muscle suit to make him look like Zac.

...

When we were back on the van the guys gathered all of their stuff and went to change. I went quickly and grabbed my black skinny jeans, a gray hoodie that was similar to Bradien's jacket and my vans. I went in the bathroom and straightened my hair which ended up taking half an hour to do seen as it was so curly. When I walked out of the bathroom they were all in the front area along with Nick, some were getting ready while the others were helping.

"What are you suppose to be Em?"Thomas asked from across the room making everyone look towards me.

"I'm Braiden," I said grinning at my brother who was laughing at me. Everyone joined in with the laughter before going back to work. I looked over and saw Nick drawing Alex's tattoo on Connor's arm, if he ever needs extra pay he should defiantly be an artist. When they were all dressed they called Alex, Jack, Rian and Zac in the bus to show them.

"Holy shit, there's two of me," Jack screamed when he saw Braiden.

"This is so cool guys," Alex exclaimed like a little kid.

After they had all calmed down we took a picture of them all together before the four of them went off, probably to get drunk knowing them. The guys changed out of their outfits once they had gone seen as they didn't want to play tonight in them. When Bradien was changed he came over to give me a hug before looking me up and down.

"It's creepy how much you look like each other right now," Thomas told us as he walked back into the room making us look at each other and laugh.

...

When we got in the venue, I sat with Toby who was eating candy and dressed as batman. We both watched the guys do a sound check with Nick, they were covering Girls Do What They Want by The Maine, I absolutely loved the song. The guys were playing in the Rave tonight, I didn't really like the venue it was creepy and all dark here and I constantly felt like someone was watching me. It didn't really help that Thomas, Connor and Braiden kept coming over to me to tell me scary rumours about the place.

...

"So guys, seen as you're here now with nothing to do, the manager of this place offered to take you on a tour of the venue," Phil told us as he walked into the back room where we were all sitting around.

"Cool!" Connor, Braiden and Thomas shouted while Riley smiled. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably making Riley shoot me a concerned look while the others laughed.

"What's wrong Emma? Scared that there's going to be some ghosts?" Connor asked grinning at me.

"Don't worry, Riley over there will protect you," Thomas said in a baby voice making me roll my eyes.

"Okay then guys follow me!" Phil shouted as he led us to the back of the venue. Braiden patted my shoulder before walking ahead with the others. We were led through a door into a dark corridor, I automatically grabbed Riley's hand making him chuckle and squeeze my hand. I hated scary movies, I just started crying in the middle of them, so I can already tell I'm not going to enjoy this tour at all.

"It's kind of freaky," Connor said from in front of us. "Dude I don't like that sound."

"Kind of, that's bullshit," I muttered making Riley give my hand another squeeze while he looked around. "Queue the scary music," I muttered sarcastically making the guys laugh and turn around to look at me.

After about five minutes of walking I saw the others ahead start to climb up a ladder, I waited for Connor to get halfway up before I started climbing up, Riley put his hand on the small of my back to make sure I didn't fall until I was to high up for him, when he removed his hand I heard him start to climb up after me. Braiden made sure we were both up before he carried on walking; I grabbed Riley's hand again and followed him.

"Snacking on his goldfish," Connor said making me look over to Thomas who was walking around un-fazed by the environment we were in and was eating a packet of goldfish.

We carried on walking for another ten minutes before we reached a door we all quickly went through it and ran up the stairs which led out of the basement.

"Thank God that's over," I exclaimed as I fell back on the sofa after we finished the tour and went in the back room. All the guys laughed and sat down around me.

"It weren't that bad," Braiden commented making me glare at him.

...


	6. PaintBalling

"Em, you need to wake up," Braiden said while shaking my shoulder trying to get me to wake up. I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He gave me a sympathetic smile when he saw how tired I was.

"I feel like I only just fell asleep," I moaned before sitting up and grabbing my clothes, I looked over and saw Riley was already awake and out of his bunk.

"I know Hun, but today's going to be fun," He told me before ruffling my hair and walking to the front of the van. I yawned and looked down at my clothes, I was going to wear my black skinny jeans and my black Before You Exit t-shit with my black hoodie, we were going paint-balling with everyone so Connor had suggested we all wear black so we'd look cool. We had to get up earlier than usual, hence why I was tired.

After I was changed, I sat down on the sofa away from the others; they were all too busy happily talking about today to notice I had walked into the room.

"We need to beat them, if we don't they'll never let us forget it!" Thomas explained. Braiden nodded before he turned and saw I was sitting near them.

"Are you fully awake yet?" He asked before handing me a can of monster. I smiled gratefully at him before quickly drinking the can to give me energy.

"I'm guessing by how quick you drunk that, you're not fully awake," Connor commented making glance at him before chucking the empty can in the bin.

...

When we stepped out of the van nearly everyone from the tour was standing about in the parking lot waiting for us to turn up.

"They're here, okay everyone hop onto the mini bus!" Matt shouted making everyone rush towards the bus to get a seat. We all stood in shock at how fast everyone had moved. When we got onto the bus we all went to sit in available seats next to everyone. I saw a spare seat next to Braiden so I went over to sit by him. Riley then took the last available seat in front of us while the others sat in the front.

"Connor tell us where were going," Riley commented over the noise while holding my camera that I hadn't seen since last week.

"We're going paint-balling," Connor replied before turning back around.

"We're going streaking," Justin commented making Thomas whoop.

"We're all in black, for streaking," Riley said making me laugh, those words coming out of his mouth weren't natural. He turned around and smiled at me before turning back and started talking to Thomas.

"Now who's tired?" I commented when I saw Braiden struggling to stay awake next to me. He rolled his eyes playfully at me before putting his arm around me and turning to look out of the window.

...

When we got to the paint ball building we all went inside, all together there were about twenty of us so we had decided on the bus that it was going to be All Time Low and their crew verses Before You exit and A Rocket To The Moon, I was classed as a member of Before You Exit so that had cheered me up a lot.

We were then handed forms to fill out about safety regulations etc, I went and sat next to Braiden and copied what he had filled out seen as we basically had the same information to write, he laughed at me before he started to just read out what information I should write next.

"Okay, I think you've done it all," Braiden commented looking over my sheet, he took it out of my hand and handed it in along with his before motioning for me to go with him to put the gear on. I had been excited to do this all week since I found out but now I was starting to get nervous, I was the only girl out of the entire group and I was basically the only one who had never been paint-balling before.

When I was handed the gear I quickly put on the camouflaged suit and started to put on the pads and helmet. Riley walked over to me fully dressed and moved my chest pad into the correct place.

"It's not too late to back out if you don't want to do this," He commented when I had finished getting ready. He was the only one that I had told about my nerves for today, I wish I hadn't now if I was making him worried.

"I'm not backing out," I told him as we walked over to our team.

"Okay, Emma you're going to be our secret weapon, we know the others are going to try and avoid shooting you because they won't want to hurt you, they'll know it's you because of your height seen as you're a lot shorter than most of us, so when you get the chance you get out in the open," Nick commented, I shot Braiden and Riley a scared look when he had mentioned me, Riley gave me a concerned look before glaring at Nick.

"Wait, you're going to use my baby sister as bait?" Braiden spoke up.

"When you put it that way, my plan sounds terrible..." Nick replied looking at the ground.

"Get to your places!" The instructor shouted making us all glance at each other.

"Okay, new plan, do what you want and try to win," Nick commented making us all laugh and move to hide behind the wall. I crouched down next to who I thought was Thomas but I weren't too sure, you couldn't really see anyone's faces in the masks we were wearing.

"3, 2, 1, GO!" The instructor shouted making everyone quickly move and start shooting, I sat in shock for a moment, an unnatural high pitch scream brought me out of my shock, I looked through a gap in the wall to see a circle of paint on one of the guys in the other teams private area, from the weird movements they were making my best guess would be that it was Jack.

"Nice shoot Bradien!" I burst out laughing; I never knew B had that good of an aim. I quickly moved to kneel behind some tires to shoot when everyone got back into the game when they had stopped laughing. I managed to shoot someone in the leg, I think it was Rian from the height; well whoever it was fell over but quickly got back up.

After about ten minutes, the buzzer went making us all walk to the building for a quick break before the next game. I looked over and saw Rian limping, It was him that I hit, I saw him jokingly glare at me before giving me a hi-five. I could faintly hear Jack moaning to Braiden about shooting him in the nuts behind me, I turned and saw everyone in tears laughing.

After a few rounds I quickly found out how painful paint-balling was. I was defiantly going to be covered in bruises in a few hours. My aim started to get better further in on the game so I managed to hit a few of the guys.

When we were about to start the last round Thomas quickly ran over and picked me up carrying me behind the tires I had been hiding behind in the first game.

"I've got an idea," he said before putting my helmet back on for me, he picked up and put me inside the tires. I laughed at his brilliant idea.

"You're an evil mastermind Thomas," I commented as he made two gaps between tires with stones to keep them open, one for me to see out of and the other one for my gun.

"I know Em, okay no one has noticed so you're good and I can't see you or the gun," He commented before rushing off to his spot. I took a deep breath and focused on outside, I could feel myself getting claustrophobic but even if I wanted to get out there's no way I could until someone helped me.

During the round I saw nearly everyone shooting confused looks in my direction, by the end of the game no one had figured out where I was and they couldn't see anyone standing in the area to shoot them. When the round was over some of them started heading my way, I could see them looking around for the person who had been shooting them.

"Whoever it was, I bow down to your ninja skills," Jack commented making everyone nod agreeing with him. I held my breath to stop myself from laughing when I saw Riley, Braiden and Connor standing near me confused while Thomas was behind them grinning and rocking on his heels.

"Wait, where's Emma?" Braiden asked nervously looking around.

"Emma? Emma?" Thomas shouted in a girly voice while walking towards me.

"Can you just get me out now please?" I shouted grinning. I could faintly hear everyone's confused questions before Thomas easily pulled me out from my hiding place making everyone laugh.

"That was genius," Connor commented giving us both a pat on the back. Braiden gave me a quick hug before talking to Thomas about the last round. I turned to hug Riley who had helmet hair.

"That was brilliant," He commented grinning.

"It was Thomas' idea he basically dragged me and chucked me in there," I replied jokingly making Thomas roll his eyes.

...

When we were in the venue, I sat on the side of the stage to watch the guys play. Even though they played the same set every night I never got bored of watching them. When they were in the middle of playing The Best Thing I saw Connor struggling to get his guitar Pic off his stand where they were kept, after a few seconds of struggling he managed to get it out. I turned when I heard laughing and saw all of the members from A Rocket to the Moon.

"Do I want to know what you all did?" I asked them suspiciously.

"We stuck all their guitar pics to their stands so they wouldn't be able to get them off!" Nick replied while wiping fake tears from his eyes. "Oh and we stuck Thomas' drum sticks together."

"Of course you did," I replied while laughing before turning back around to watch them try to figure out what was going on.

...


	7. Last Day of Tour

The next week flew by and before we knew it, it was the last day of the tour. We had gotten into a special routine that was going to be difficult to break when we got back home. We'd all wake up at around lunch time if it wasn't a day off, arrive at the venue, do sound check, watch a movie, the guys would play their set, go out and meet some fans and we'd all get back on the bus around elevenish and go straight to sleep.

Riley and I hadn't had much time by ourselves to talk about us, I didn't know if I was his girlfriend now or if I was still his best friend who he make's out with. The only time we had together was while we were in our bunks; we would end up whispering to each other for a few minutes but were always too tired to stay up late talking.

Right now we were all sitting in the front area of the van watching Transformers, we were on the way to the venue which was still three hours away, we had to stop for gas soon but Phil said the gas station was still at least an hour away. I was sitting on the floor in-between Riley's legs who was sitting on the sofa behind me, he had offered for me to sit on his lap but stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw the look Braiden was sending him and I wouldn't let him switch places with me.

"Megan Fox is so hot," Thomas said from his spot across the room making Connor nod his head agreeing with him, I rolled my eyes at them; I would not like to know what they were thinking about at this moment. I could faintly hear the others still discussing how hot Megan Fox was so I blanked them out and carried on watching the film. Riley started twirling a piece of my hair in his fingers making me get distracted from the movie. I turned my head slightly to look at him, I was surprised to see him watching me smiling instead of watching the movie, I grinned at him before I turned back around and leaned more into his legs.

...

When we arrived at the gas station the guys quickly got up off their seats and jumped out of the van. I slowly got up but ended up falling back down into a sitting position.

"Dead legs! Dead legs!" I moaned, I faintly heard Riley laughing before he helped me stand up.

"Now do you wish I had sat on the floor instead of you?" Riley asked me in a baby voice while patting my cheek gently. I pouted my lips and limped past him towards the door. He quickly ran past me out of the door, I rolled my eyes and smiled at his weird behaviour. When I got to the door way he was standing there bending his knees with his arms stretched out behind him. "Hop on my love." I laughed at his fake posh accent and jumped on to his back so he could carry me to the others.

When we got to the others they all give us a slight smile before turning back to Phil who was standing near us. Riley jumped slightly and moved his hands a bit so I was at a comfier position on his back for both of us.

"Okay guys, were going to be here a while so find away to entertain yourselves without causing too much trouble," Phil told us before walking back towards the gas station.

"What to do, what to do?" Connor muttered making us all laugh.

After five minutes of arguing, Connor shouted making us all shut up. "Well, I don't know about all of you, but I'm going for a walk in the fields over there," He pointed over to a large hill that was behind the gas station.

"You're not serious are you?" Braiden moaned making me hid me face in Riley's neck so he wouldn't see me laughing, he hated long walks especially on a hill like the one Connor had chosen. I was going on this walk just to see his face.

"Yes I am, I'm going if anyone cares to follow, please do," Connor joked before turning and walking to his destination with everyone following him.

"You okay to walk now Em?" Riley asked me as he walked slower than the others. I jumped off his back as a reply before grabbing his hand to hold and following the others.

After ten minutes we were walking in a comfortable silence, though we could both hear the conversation the other three were having ahead of us, they were currently arguing about which movie we had watched over the duration of the tour was the best.

"So..." Riley said quietly before rubbing his neck with his free hand and coughing nervously.

"What's wrong?" I asked concerned. He wasn't going to say he no longer liked me was he? He suddenly stopped walking and turned me to look at him.

"Well, I've had a crush on you for years Em and after that kiss, well kisses," He said grinning making me bite my lip to stop myself from laughing and ruining the moment. "I can't just be friends with you any more, " He swallowed nervously before looking me straight in my eye "So, Emma Wood will you be my girlfriend?" I smiled at him and nodded still in shock, I had been dreaming of hearing him say those words for so long now. He grinned again before pulling me into a tight hug and spinning me around. When he stopped spinning us around we both leaned in for a kiss, I put my arms around his neck to pull him closer while he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Guys! Come on! Braiden's even walking faster than you two," Thomas shouted over making us break apart. It probably looked like we had been hugging to him, thank god. I had forgotten they were walking in front of us. We both walked quickly to them hand in hand to shut them up. Braiden started lagging behind and was starting to get far away.

"I'm going to wait for Bray," I told the others, giving Riley's hand a squeeze before letting go of it and sitting on the grass to wait for him.

"Okay Em but it's going to be awhile," Thomas joked before they all started walking up the hill. After a few minutes of waiting, well seven minutes and forty seconds... yes I counted, I was bored and had nothing else to do, Braiden reached where I was sitting. He gave me a grateful smile before holding out his hand to pull me off the ground.

"So what are you guys doing after the tour?" I asked him as we walked together watching the others sit down on the hill finally deciding they had walked far enough.

"Recording new songs probably, I'm too tired to try and remember what else," He replied while wiping sweat off his forehead. "So what was going on with you and Riley earlier?" he looked over at me suspiciously before smiling.

"Umm, he asked me to be his girlfriend," I muttered not knowing how he would react. I was surprised when he slug his arm around my shoulder and gave me a half hug.

"I'm happy for you Em but I don't care if he's in my band or not, if he break's you're heart, I break his face," He threatened.

"I honestly don't doubt that, thanks B," I said laughing making him smile before we carried on walking in comfortable silence.

"About time, I thought we were going to die up here!" Thomas moaned as we sat down next to them when we reached where they were sitting.

"Well sorry..." Braiden muttered.

"Okay we've got to go back down now," Connor said while standing up.

"What? We just sat down!" I half shouted, the end of the walk had nearly killed me.

"No you just sat down, we've been sitting down for fifteen minutes," Thomas replied before they started walking again. Braiden and I glanced at each other before we sighed and stood up. Riley gave me a sympathetic smile before he started walking down the hill. I grunted and followed them all down the hill with Braiden behind me.

...

When we got to the venue the five of us were all complaining about being in pain from the walk, I was sitting backstage with Riley and Thomas watching A Rocket to The Moon play their set. I had my feet up on Thomas' lap with my converse loosely done up, my feet were aching after the walk, I was positive they would be covered in blisters by tomorrow. Riley stood up and went to stand by the edge of the stage as the bridge of Mr. Right started. Nick had asked him to sing the last chorus tonight for the last show instead of Vinny or Alex who had previously done it on the tour. Thomas and I grinned at each other when Riley started signing and did a quick stupid dance in our chairs. When Riley walked back off Connor walked over and gave him a pat on the back before turning back to watch the others play. I gave him a quick hug before going back to listen to them start to play Life Of The Party.

...

When it was the guys turn to start to play their set Alex walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulder. "Make sure you're filming them at all times, we've got a few ideas in store for them tonight," He laughed evilly before running back to the side of the stage. I laughed and grabbed my camera from Connors bag; I had apparently not been filming enough so he had taken over.

As the guys were playing their intro, they were interrupted by the Banana Song blasting out of the speakers. I burst out laughing at the look of shock on all of their faces. Braiden hopped off the speaker he had been standing on while Riley and Connor looked at each other confused. Braiden and Connor started doing an awkward dance while Riley followed their lead, I could see Thomas laughing from the drum kit behind them before he started to play along with the song showing off.

"Really Guys?" Connor asked once the song had finished. "Thank you, thank you...So as you guys might know, tonight's the last night of the tour and they think it's really cute to prank the bands, so everybody give it up for them in the back."

"Are you guys ready for All Time Low?" Riley shouted into his microphone halfway through their set making everyone scream. As if on cue Jack and Alex walked onto stage interrupting them, I turned and saw everyone else backstage laughing.

"Excuse me, a couple of you couldn't make it to the meet and greet, so we're going to sign some autographs really quick."

"Just hold off for like, ten or fifteen minutes while we sign some autographs... Try not to talk or anything," Alex said into Riley's microphone after he had pushed him out of the way. The guys started to walk around the stage not knowing what to do while they were waiting.

"Just take your time, that's fine," Connor told them.

After a minute of signing autographs Riley tipped some of his water on Alex's head making everyone who had noticed laugh.

"Hey man," Alex told him before stealing his water and rushing off the stage closely followed by Jack.

When the guys were then at the end of their last song, everyone from backstage walked onto the stage and started to take Thomas' drum kit apart.

"Thanks guys, thank you very much," Connor told the audience as the others watched Thomas' kit being taken away.

"Thank you all for coming to our show," Riley jokingly sang as Connor played his guitar trying to fill the silence as they waited for them to finish taking all of the drum parts away.

"Alright I guess were done, bye," Connor said as Thomas was carried off the stage. We they all got off they burst into laughter and hi-fived everyone who had pranked them, congratulating them.

...

After the show had finished everyone gathered in the hall of the venue to end the tour together. Vinny got us all to sit around him as he made an awkward speech.

"It's been a quick four weeks, there's good guys, good girls, parents, your all stand-up gentlemen and I hope we can do this again, good luck in the new year and um, that's it," He ended making everyone cheer for him.

After we hugged everyone goodbye and promised to stay in contact we headed back to our van. We were all tired so we went straight to our bunks, by tomorrow night we would be back home but at least we still had all day tomorrow to hang out on the van together.

...


	8. Home

"I can't believe the tour's over already," Connor commented as we all gathered any items in the front area of the van that was ours.

"I know but we've got lots of things to look forward to now right?" Thomas replied as he chucked a shoe into his bunk from across the room, he ended up missing and had to walk over to put it into his bunk.

"Yeah," Bradien and Riley interrupted at the same time making them look at each other and laugh.

After a few minutes silence all of the items were in our hands so we walked towards our bunks to pack them ready to go back home. Me and Riley spoke about all of the events that had happened last night while packing. When I was finished, I looked over and saw Riley was only halfway through packing away all of his things. I rolled my eyes and moved to help him, he grinned at me before carrying on folding his clothes.

"You're still going to be with us when we get back right? I mean during band practice and everything," Riley asked looking at me. I briefly looked back at him before carrying on folding his clothes.

"Yeah, if you guys don't mind me there, I don't want to be a burden," I commented quietly. He stopped packing for a moment to look over towards me shocked.

"You really think that? Em we would never!" He explained still looking at me shocked making me feel slightly guilty for saying that.

"Thanks," I mumbled while smiling at him, I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss, when I went to pull back he leaned forward making us connected again, I smiled into the kiss before pulling back. "We can't get distracted; look how much you've got left to pack!" He laughed slightly before carrying on.

When I looked down I blushed automatically seeing that I had picked up one of his boxer shorts, I quickly put it in his suitcase and glanced at him to see if he had noticed, he was too busy trying to fold his skinny jeans...Thank God.

When we were finally done we made sure all of our stuff was together before walking to the front area of the van, I was honestly surprised to see that the others had finished packing and were sitting down having a conversation. I had expected to walk in and be forced to help them finish.

"Yeah that's right, we finished packing," Thomas commented smugly when he saw the look of shock on my face.

"Okay, I'll admit it, I'm proud... and completely shocked," I replied, I laughed when I saw all the grins on their faces.

...

"So what's the first thing you guys are going to do when you get home?" Braiden asked us all breaking the silence. We were about a fifteen minute drive away from the McDonough household where we were being dropped off.

"Sleep," Thomas replied brightly.

"Sleep sounds pretty good," Riley agreed.

"I'm going into hibernation," Braiden commented making us all laugh.

"So, when should we agree to have the next band meeting so we can discuss what we're doing next week?" Connor inputted looking at each of them while I sat there quietly watching them.

"I need a few days rest, so maybe Monday?" Thomas suggested.

"Monday sounds good," Braiden agreed.

...

"Home!" Connor shouted as he got off the van. We all laughed at him and carried our stuff off quickly. After two journeys I had all my stuff off the van. Before I could go back inside to help the others, I saw Mrs McDonough walk towards me. I smiled brightly at her and let her pull me into a hug; she had always been like a second mother to me alongside Thomas' mum.

"Did you have a nice time dear? I didn't see you much when we visited," She said as the others got off the van.

"Yeah, it was amazing, it went by so quickly though..." I replied.

"Well, I'd offer you all to come inside but your all probably excited to get home now," She addressed the group smiling, making Braiden and Thomas smile and hug her quickly.

"So even were not allowed in the house?" Riley joked making her roll her eyes before walking back into the house as we said our goodbyes.

"See you in a few days Emma Bear," Thomas told me as he pulled me into a quick hug. He gave us a quick wave goodbye before jumping into his parent's car who had just arrived. They all gave us a quick wave before driving off.

"See you soon Emma," Connor said as he pulled me into a hug before moving to say goodbye to Braiden.

Riley smiled at me and held his arms open signalling for a hug, I smiled and moved into him wrapping my arms around his waist.

"I'll see you in a few days then..." I mumbled into his shoulder.

"I'll ring you tonight, okay?"He replied making me nod. He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before walking up to his house waving at us the whole walk. I laughed and turned to Braiden who was also laughing at him.

"You ready to go? I've got my keys back off Mrs McDonough, the cars in the garage," Braiden explained before picking up his stuff and walking towards the car with me following him.

...

When we reached our house the drive was empty showing that our parents weren't in. This was a new low for even them... we'd been away for a month and they couldn't find a way to be home to see us.

After Braiden walked through the door, I dumped my stuff on the sofa before following him to the kitchen. He was standing with his back to me looking at the fridge with his hands in his pockets. He turned around and gave me a sympathetic smile before pulling me into a quick hug. Once he had let go he walked back out off the room, I heard him quickly gathering his stuff before walking upstairs.

I looked over at the fridge and saw a blue sticky notes held on with a magnet. I walked over slowly unsure whether to read it or not.

_Braiden and Emma,_

_We received an important call yesterday from work; we were chosen to go on the business trip to Rome. We couldn't pass the opportunity seen as it will help the company and will show our boss we are committed to our job, we could even earn a promotion from this. We'll be back in a fortnight. There's money on the cabinet for food, look after the house._

_Mum and Dad._

I sighed and walk over to gather all my things, When I got upstairs it was all quiet so I guessed Braiden had already gone back to sleep. I decided to unpack everything now seen as I weren't tired enough to go to sleep.

After an hour of sorting all my clothes into clean and dirty piles and putting everything else away, the lack of sleep was starting to catch up on me. I defiantly needed a shower first seen as the shower on the van didn't allow you to clean properly.

After showering, I changed into my pyjamas and headed straight to my bed before I could get distracted and end up doing something else. I ended up not falling asleep and thinking about my parents. They were never here for us; it was always Braiden I depended on. I don't think he really knows how much I appreciate everything he's done for me. All my childhood memories were of him, even these days the best days I had were with him.

After five minutes I was up and out of my bed and was sitting on my bedroom floor with my guitar leaning on my knee and my diary and a pen on the floor, I was going to remind Braiden how important he was to me in the best way I could describe my words.

...

After ten minutes of silently listening to Braiden walking about downstairs, I got the courage to go and play him the song I had written for him.

"Hey, do you want something to eat?" Braiden asked as I reached the bottom steps not bothering to turn around to look at me.

"No thanks..." I replied while swinging my guitar nervously. "Umm, do you mind if I play you a song?"

"I get to hear another one?" He replied grinning at me once he had turned around. I nodded and smiled watching him quickly sit down on the sofa and turn sideways to look at me as I sat down. "So... is this one about Riley too?"

"No... It's actually about you" I replied and started playing before he could reply.

_I'm five years old,_

_It's getting cold I've got my big coat on, _

_I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you I run and run,_

_Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides look now the sky is gold,_

_ I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home._

_I don't know why all the trees change in the fall,_

_ I know you're not scared of anything at all,_

_ Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away, _

_But I know I had the best day with you today._

_I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean,_

_ I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys,_

_ and we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away, _

_and we Sing and talk till I forgot all their names._

_I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school, _

_but I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you, _

_don't know how long it's gonna take to feel ok, _

_But I know I had the best day with you today._

_I have four excellent best friends;_

_Their strength is making me stronger._

_ God smiles on our little Toby, _

_inside and out he's better than I am. _

_I grew up in a pretty house and I had space to run,_

_ and I had the best days with you._

_there is a video I found from back when I was three, _

_Our parents set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me, _

_it's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs, _

_You're not only smart but you're the coolest brother in the whole wide world._

_now I know why all the trees change in the fall,_

_ I know you were on my side even when I was wrong, and I love you for giving me your eyes,_

_ staying back and watching me shine and I didn't know if you knew, _

_so I'm taking this chance to say that I had the best day with you today._

"Em..." Briaden said, I looked up and saw him smiling with tears in his eyes. He moved the guitar and pulled me into a hug, he didn't even awkwardly let go after a few seconds either. "That's my favourite song in the whole world, and not to be cheesy but I had the best days with you too."

I smiled at him quickly for putting my guitar down and wiping away tears that were falling from my eyes.

"You've got a talent little sis, you need to put your stuff on YouTube, just film a song with us if you're that nervous..."

"Okay, I'll think about it..." I replied quickly but regretted it once it was out. Braiden grinned before turning away and started texting someone on his phone, I had a weird suspicion that he was already telling the others I had half agreed the film a song with them.

...

At about eleven o'clock I tuned my phone off after speaking with Riley for two hours. Even though we were now going out we had still managed to have the weird, random conversations that we've been having nearly every night since we both had phones.

Talking to him had cheered me up and fell asleep quickly with a smile on my face.

...


	9. On The Radio

The next few days consisted of us basically trying to catch up on our lack of sleep and watching all the TV shows we missed while we were away. By Monday morning I was excited to the see the guys again after being with them for a whole month everything was too quiet without them, don't get me wrong, I appreciated the silence, I might have punched them if I was with them for any longer on that van but it was to strange without them here with me.

I got up, showered and changed quickly. When I had finished Braiden was still getting ready so I went and made myself breakfast. By the time Braiden had come downstairs I had eaten, made him breakfast and moved to the living room to watch supernatural on the TV.

"You ready to go?" Braiden asked walking into the room. I turned the TV off and turned to look at him.

"I've been ready for fifteen minutes," I replied rolling my eyes. He smiled as a response before walking out the door with me following him.

...

After the five minute drive we were at Riley and Connors house where the guys usually had their band practice or meetings. Thomas' car was parked outside showing us we were the last ones here which was usual with the way Braiden was in the mornings.

As we walked closer to the house I could faintly hear them talking in the garage. Braiden walked ahead of me and jumped through the door making a dramatic entrance making us all laugh. I slowly walked in after him to see the three of them patting him on the back and greeting him. I stayed in my spot quietly not wanting the ruin their group moment.

"Did Emma not come?" Riley asked making me smile and walk towards them. Riley grinned when he saw me but before he could do anything Connor and Thomas ran towards me for a hug, I grunted when my back hit the wall but I patted their backs to slightly return the hug.

"I missed you guys too," I said as they let me go. As soon as they moved out the way I ran around them and jumped onto Riley making the others laugh when he nearly stumbled.

"I missed you," he mumbled into my shoulder, I smiled and pulled him in tighter. Before I could reply Thomas pushed us both onto the sofa making me fall on top of Riley.

"Enough greetings, let's get down to business," Thomas commented as the others sat down. I finally noticed what position I was in and blushed. I quickly got off Riley who was chuckling at me and moved to sit next to him.

"So as you guys know we have that radio interview tomorrow to promote us locally," Connor said making me look at Braiden confused, he hadn't mentioned anything about being on the radio. He saw my questioning glance and gave me a sheepish smile before turning back to listen to Connor. "It's at eleven so were getting up early, so our mum said she would pick you all up on the way to save us all driving there."

After listening to them talk about their plans for what felt like forever, they decided to practice some of their songs to see which acoustic one would be best to play tomorrow. I helped them pick which one sounded best before they started to lose focus.

"I'm hungry; do you guys want to go out to eat?" Thomas asked looking at all of us.

"Yes!" Connor and Riley shouted while Braiden put his guitar back in his bag. I got up from my spot on the sofa and followed them all to Thomas' car; I'm guessing they had decided we'd all drive there together when I blanked out of the conversation.

When we got into the car I was stuck leaning against the window next to Braiden while Thomas and Connor were in the front and Riley was on the other side of Braiden. The whole ride I couldn't even hear myself think over the loud music but thankfully we arrived at one of the local restaurants that we hardly came too.

"Why are we here?" Riley asked as we all took off our seatbelts.

"I'm so hungry, I can't cope any longer in the car!" Thomas shouted before jumping out of the car. I laughed at him before getting out of the car and following the others into the restaurant. When we got inside Riley and I sat on one side of the booth while Connor and Thomas sat on the other and Braiden sat on a chair that had been moved for him.

While everyone was choosing what they wanted to eat I felt Riley's hand move to rest on my knee. I smiled and sneakily looked at him to see him smiling reading the menu. I don't even know why he was bothering to read it; we all knew he would end up picking spaghetti.

After we had ordered I was finding it hard to concentrate on the conversation between the others because Riley's hand was still on my knee and was now rubbing small circles. I leaned back in my seat and moved so my head was resting on his shoulder. He was distracting me enough so I may as well get comfy.

After about twenty minutes our food arrived making me lift my head up from Riley's shoulder, after he removed his hand from my knee he shifted over in his seat so he was sitting closer to me. At all times during the meal we were touching, whether it was our shoulders bumping each other's or his leg resting against mine. We didn't even bother trying to hide it as much as normal so I could see the others watching us at some points with a smile on their faces.

When it was time to leave, we all decided to take some of our leftover food to eat later seen as we were full. By the time we got to the car Thomas was already taking small bites out of his cake making me roll my eyes.

When we got back to Riley and Connor's house the others shouted a quick 'See you tomorrow' before walking in their own directions. Riley came over and pulled me in for a quick kiss while the others were distracted. "I'll see you in the morning," He muttered pulling out of the hug.

"Yes you will," I replied peaking him on the lips before rushing to Braiden who was waiting for me in his car.

...

I woke early the next morning, I could have stayed in bed for a few more hours but I was too hungry so I knew I wouldn't fall back asleep. When I got into the kitchen I looked over by the fridge and saw my leftover spaghetti from the restaurant yesterday afternoon. Without thinking I quickly ate it trying to stop the unnatural noises my stomach was making.

A few hours later I went and started to change when I heard Braiden upstairs getting ready. When I had changed into my clothes I started to feel sick but I ignored it. I turned to look at my clock and saw that it was _10; 55_ meaning the guys would be here in five minutes to drive us to the radio station. When I went to walk out of the bathroom after brushing my teeth I started to feel sick again but I knew this time I was actually going to throw up. I rushed over to the toilet and slid onto the floor managing to be sick into the toilet rather than on the floor. While I was still throwing up I could faintly hear the door opening downstairs.

"Braiden, you guys ready to go?" Someone asked.

"Yeah, Emma's upstairs, someone go and get her while I grab something to eat for when were on the way there." I could hear footsteps coming up the stairs as I stopped throwing up; my mouth was burning from throwing up for nearly five minutes straight.

"Em? Where are you?" I heard Riley shout as he closed my bedroom door. I tried to shout to him but it ended up coming out as a small whisper. I saw the bathroom door slowly open from the corner of my eye, when I turned I saw Riley's concerned face looking at me. "Em, are you okay?" I looked up at him when he knelt down next to me, I grimaced when I realised he was seeing me while I was half bent in the toilet with sick everywhere. "Come on, you're getting back in bed," He carefully picked me up and carried me back into my room as other footsteps were heard coming upstairs.

"What's taking so long up here? You two better not be making out!" Braiden joked as he walked into my bedroom but stopped when he saw Riley carrying me. "What's wrong Em? You look terrible."

"Gee thanks, that makes me feel so much better," I replied as Riley sat down by my stomach on the bed.

"Well there's no way were letting you come today, your resting in bed missy," Thomas commented before walking over to my shelf and moving my cd player next to my bed, "Now, you can listen to us from here, I'll sort the channel and everything out so all you have to do is turn it on when one of us calls you, okay?"

While everyone walked about Riley stayed sitting me rubbing my back making me feel tired again. Bradien walked in carrying a few towels and a sick bowl and put them all on the floor in front of me, while Connor walked in holding a few bottles of water.

"Boys, we need to go or were going to be late," Mrs McDonough said as she walked through the corridor and into my room, she paused when she saw all of the boys fussing around my room. "Emma, you're not feeling too well?" I shook my head slightly getting fed up of people asking me that question. She moved past the boys and put her hand on my forehead, "What have you eaten today dear?"

"Just the leftovers from yesterday," I mumbled back playing with the fingers on Riley's free hand.

"You've probably got food poisoning dear, did any of you lot eat leftovers as well?" She asked looking at the others.

"I was going to but you chucked them before I could," Connor replied making everyone crack a smile.

"We'll be two hours top Emma, do you think you'll be okay on your own?" Braiden asked looking concerned at me.

"I'm fine, stop fussing, go and have fun," I replied with a slight laugh. Thomas and Connor followed Mrs McDonough out of the room while Braiden hesitated in the doorway but was pulled out by Connor.

"Do you want anything before I go?" Riley asked brushing the loose hair out of my face. I turned to smile at him slightly.

"I'm fine just go," I replied making him smile, he leaned down and kissed my forehead before running down the stairs quickly. As soon as I heard the door slam closed, I leaned over the edge of the bed and threw up; I'd been trying to stop the sick from coming up the entire time they were all in the room because I didn't want them to think I was seriously ill.

...

The sound of my ring tone woke me up from my sleep. I reached over to my night stand and looked at the caller ID. "Hey Big Brother!" I said trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Hey Little Sis! It's going good, were on in five minutes so I was forced to ring you to tell you to turn on your radio now," He replied chuckling. I reached and turned the player on and lied back down on my bed and faintly listened to the presenter mention them being on next. "How are you feeling now?"

"A bit better," I lied hoping he would carry on his day and have fun instead of worrying about me being home alone ill.

"Good, well I've got to go now; we'll be coming home straight after the interview, bye." After saying goodbye, I put my phone back on the table and turned to listen to the interview. A few seconds later my phone buzzed making me reach out for it again.

_Feel better, see you in a bit :) xxx_

I smiled at the text from Riley and sent him a quick reply before turning back to listen to the radio.

"Now here we have a young group Before You Exit," The presenter said making pay attention.

"How did you guys get together? Tell us about that."

"Well actually umm, I knew Thomas from middle school and I knew Connor from church so one day I asked both of them to hang out and we started jamming and then about a year after that we added Riley over there and he joined and completed the band," Braiden said.

"So what are you guys going to perform for us today?"

"Were going to do a song off our six song EP, its called Life Defined," Connor said. I tapped my foot along to the song remembering listening to them play this song for the first time. When the small audience clapped I snapped out of my thoughts and listened to them talk again.

I laughed when I heard Connor thanking Gibson Guitars and STG drums for sponsoring them.

"Man let me tell you something, Rule number one don't ever forget your sponsors'," the presenter said making me roll my eyes knowing Connor would be feeling smug now, "You can forget your name but don't forget your sponsors'."

"Are you all ready to find out what people think?" The guys all shouted yes. "Apparently someone you know is calling right now."

"Hi," A voice replied, I recognised it to be Ellie who was in Braiden, Thomas and Connor school before they left to be home-schooled but she was one of the people they had kept in contact with.

"It's Ellie!" Braiden shouted while the others laughed.

"So where are you calling from?" The producer asked.

"Umm English class, everyone's just starting at me," The others laughed "Hey you guys, you guys were amazing!"

"How are you listening from class?" The producer asked as lots of noises were heard over the line. "Is the radio on?"

"Yes were in class but I just stepped outside."

"Can you go into the class and get them to say hello because I don't believe you."

"Yeah get them to say hi," Briaden commented. A brief shout of hellos and screams were heard making all of the others laugh.

"Thank you so much guys," The presenter said once Ellie had hung up.

"No Thank you," Connor replied.

When a new song started playing, I turned off the radio and sent them all a well done text before going back to sleep.

...

I woke up when I felt my bed move slightly. I opened my eyes to see Braiden sitting by me. "You feeling better?"

"Much after sleeping," I replied smiling. "Where are the others?"

"Downstairs, they're staying the night, they wanted to make sure you were okay," He replied smiling. I grinned back at him as he stood up and ruffled my hair before walking back out the door.

A few minutes later Riley walked in and smiled at me. I smiled back and watched him walk towards the bed. Instead of sitting down he walked around and lied down next to me pulling me into a hug. "Okay, so no lies do you feel better?"

"Yes, no lies I promise," I replied smiling up at him. I put my head to rest on his chest instantly feeling tired again.

"Go to sleep," Riley mumbled when he saw me trying to keep my eyes open. I closed my eyes and easily fell asleep, the last thing I remember was Riley kissing my forehead before he fell asleep himself.

...


	10. House Of Blues

When I woke up I felt more comfortable than I normally did, I opened my eyes and saw that I was still half laying over Riley and his arms were around me. I looked up and saw he was still fast asleep so I just put my head back on his chest again and closed my eyes. Before I could fall back asleep I faintly heard someone come in the room, I kept my eyes closed hoping that for once they would be nice and walk back out of the room. I could feel someone standing at the end of my bed and it was starting to scare me so I opened my eyes to see who it was. I was shocked to see all three of the guys standing there grinning at us. I didn't want to face this alone so I patted Riley's stomach a few times hoping he would wake up. Surprisingly he did.

"What's wrong Em? Do you feel sick again?" Riley mumbled trying to open his eyes but ended up squinting because of the light. I smiled and tried to hide in his arms from the looks we were getting from the others.

"Oh no, she's fine Riley, I just think she's a tad embarrassed," Thomas commented. Riley nearly shot up and out of the bed when Thomas spoke but then tightened his arms around me and groaned.

"Why do you always have to pick on us?" Riley moaned as I closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep.

"Because you're both the youngest," Connor replied before they all started to walk out of the room.

"Were playing at the mall this afternoon, it's a long drive, are you feeling good enough to come Em?" Braiden asked from the doorway. I glanced at him from Riley's arms and nodded before laying back against Riley. I sighed and leaned more into Riley making him chuckle.

"I don't want to get up," I moaned. He gave me a kiss on the forehead before pulling us both into a sitting position.

"I'm going to go and get changed, you sure you're well enough to come?" He asked looking concerned.

"I'm fine, now go," I said while kicking his bum softly as he walked past making him smirk at me.

"Alright, get ready then, if you're not down in thirty minutes I'm coming up to get you," He threatened before walking out of the door. I smiled and followed him out of the room and into the bathroom. I had never been one to care about my looks but I almost died knowing Riley and the others had seen me looking how I was... I was as pale as a ghost, my hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in days and I could smell sick even when I held my breath.

After showering and brushing my teeth for at least five minutes, I went and changed into my blue skinny jeans and my before you exit hoodie. I then went and quickly tided my room and sprayed it to make sure it didn't smell.

When I walked down stairs they were all gathered on the sofa with their stuff in a neat pile near them while they watched the TV. "You look much better," Braiden commented since he was the only one that noticed I had come downstairs.

"I feel better," I replied before sitting down next to Thomas who ruffled my hair.

"You gave us quite a scare yesterday, you're normally the suffer in silence type," Connor commented taking his eyes off the screen. Braiden rolled his eyes and handed me some left over pop-tarts staring at me to make sure I ate it without looking ill again.

...

A few minutes later we grabbed our bags and went to sit outside before leaving. I sat on Riley's knee watching the others mess about. Braiden had gone to make sure they had everything while Thomas sat on the bench pretending to stutter making Connor laugh. When Braiden walked back out of the house Riley lifted me up and half carried me towards the car behind the others. When we got to the car I was chucked in the middle section with Riley while Thomas got the back of the car to himself and Connor and Braiden were in the front.

Within five minutes on the road Thomas had fallen asleep against the widow with his bag over his face. Connor turned on the radio quietly when Braiden also fell asleep so he had some motivation to stay awake. I was fully awake and sharing my earphones with Riley so we could listen to music, after a few songs I could feel the earphone slowly slipping out of my ear, I turned and saw Riley asleep and his head was slowly falling towards the window. Before his head could slam against it I reached out and put my hand there so his head hit my hand instead. I quickly pulled out my camera and filmed them all sleeping making Connor shake his head at me while laughing before turning back to look at the road. Seen as everyone except Connor who was in his own world was asleep I put my earphones back in and closed my eyes to try and sleep.

...

When we arrived there we had all finally woken up and the guys got out of the car quickly...I guess they were excited. We all walked into the mall and followed the maps instructions to find where they were playing. Connor once again stole my camera and walked behind us as we headed for the escalators. As we were all stood still going down the steps, Riley lost his balance and nearly pushed Braiden down the steps making everyone who had noticed burst into laughter. Riley looked up at the camera embarrassed before turning to give me an amused look as I held onto the side to stop myself from falling over from laughing too much.

When we finally found the area they were supposed to be playing on, we had to walk around the clothing racks to try and see their equipment set up. "Follow the music," Riley said making me cringe when I realised Miley Cyrus was playing. A few minutes later we saw a poster of the four of them on advertising that they were playing here today.

"It's a great picture except for that idiot by there," I joked pointing at Thomas' picture. Thomas shoved me before standing next to the sign and trying to copy his facial expression in the picture. He laughed after a few seconds and walked away from it. I started to feel a little bit sick again so I kept quiet and listened to them all talking hoping the sensation would pass. The only one who noticed the change was Riley who raised his eyebrows at me, but before he could question me they were pulled on stage.

As they were playing I stood off at the side and filmed them seen as I had nothing better to do. When they finished their set they were led to a table to do signings for the fans that had turned up, which was quite a lot. I went and stood near them and filmed them for a bit before I started to watch all of the fans seen as I had nothing else to do. I could see Riley glancing at me from the corner of my eye; he had been checking me every few seconds since I started to feel ill again, I think he thought I was going to pass out or something. I turned to smile at him and gave him thumbs up making him smile and turn back to sign a girl's poster.

...

When they were finally done they all came to stand around me where I was sitting on the floor. I grabbed Braiden's hand and pulled myself to stand up. "You guys were amazing," I commented making them all grin.

"Why thank you," Thomas commented flinging his arm over my shoulder and leading the way back to the car. When we got back to the car we were all in the same seats but Braiden was driving instead of Connor. I felt tired so I put my head on Riley's shoulder and fell straight asleep.

...

I could faintly hear someone talking so I started to wake up. "Well then tell her I said goodbye."

"Dude you're seeing her tomorrow, jeez you're whipped." I felt someone kiss my forehead before I was moved to lean against the window, it had obviously been Riley seen as it was his shoulder I had been leaning against. After I heard the door slam closed I slowly opened my eyes unaware of my surroundings. I sat up and looked around the car to see it was empty except for Braiden who was driving.

"You're finally awake, everyone's been dropped off at their houses but were seeing them again tomorrow when we play the one off gig at Macy's, Riley said to tell you goodbye," Braiden commented smiling at me through the rear view mirror. I nodded at him slightly before yawning and leaning back against my seat and took out my phone, I decided to text Riley seen as I had been too tired to open my eyes when he was getting out of the car. I ended up texting him all throughout the afternoon and night until I went to sleep.

...

The next morning when I woke up I changed and got my stuff ready so I wouldn't have to rush later when it was time to leave. When I walked downstairs I could faintly hear Braiden talking to someone so I assumed one of the guys were here. I froze in the doorway when I saw my mum sitting at the kitchen table flicking through her piles of letters that had built up while she was away.

"Mum, you're back," I commented now knowing what else to say. I saw Braiden trying to hide a smile when he saw how shocked I was.

"Yes, I managed to get back earlier but your father had to stay longer," She said as she walked over to give me a hug. "So, what do you have planned for today?"

"Umm, well were playing at House of Blues this afternoon and Emma's tagging along," Braiden replied while he was cleaning the dishes.

"Emma, don't you think they should go on their own, they might want some boy time and not want their band members baby sister with them," my mum said making me freeze again from shock. I always used to panic at that thought until Riley had told me not to, but now I was again.

"Mum! The guys treat Emma as if she's their own sister, they love her and would never think of her like that," Braiden argued basically glaring at our Mum which is something I've never seen him do. "Well, everyone loves her as a sister apart from Riley," He mumbled but it was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"Why doesn't Riley count her as a sister?" She asked making me and Braiden look at each other unsure what her reaction was going to be like.

"Well, were dating..." I mumbled not meeting her gaze.

"For how long?"

"About a month," I replied finally looking up to see her looking at me as if I had just told her we had run out of milk.

"Well, I'm happy for you Hun," She replied before gathering her stuff and moving to sit in the living room.

"Thank Goodness," Braiden muttered before standing up and ruffling my hair before walking up stairs.

...

When we met up with the guys outside the venue a few hours later I went straight to hug Riley. "My Mum's home," I muttered into his shoulder making him rub my back.

"What? She just turned up?"

"I guess, I walked downstairs this morning and she was sitting there... she knows about us dating too," I replied looking up at him to see his reaction, he just looked down at me slightly frightened.

"What did she say?"

"She said she was happy for me... have you told your parents yet?" He laughed making me look up at him confused.

"Connor told my Mum about us literally the second he found out that we had kissed. She told me that it was about time I manned up and made my move," He replied chuckling.

"Riley were going out to the queue to meet some fans are you coming?" Connor shouted over making me move out of his hug. Riley took my hand and led me out to the front of the venue to where everyone was lining up, I was shocked at how many people had turned up and I could tell the others were too. As the guys went and started to sign autographs and take pictures with people I stayed close to them and started to film and all of the fans so I wouldn't look stupid just standing there.

While the guys were playing I sat on the balcony right by them with Riley and Connor's parents, Toby and Thomas' mum. I filmed most of their set seen as I knew it off by heart.

When it was time to go I followed them to the car listening to them talk about how amazing they thought it had gone. "Don't forget were going to Tampa on the weekend!" Thomas shouted making us all laugh. Well I faked a laugh seen as this was the first I had heard of it, I knew they had a gig there but I didn't realise it was this soon.

"See ya," Connor shouted before getting in his car. Riley ran over to kiss me goodbye quickly before running off because Connor was beeping the horn telling him to hurry up. I laughed and got into Braiden's car.

"So Tampa?" I asked him raising my eyebrows.

"Yeah, you're coming by the way," He replied grinning making me roll my eyes.

...


	11. Tampa

"You ready to go B?" I shouted as I chucked my backpack and guitar bag onto the sofa as my Mum walked into the room.

"One second," Braiden shouted from upstairs making our Mum laugh.

"Have you got everything?" She asked while turning on the television, I nodded and tapped my foot waiting for Braiden to come downstairs. When Briaden finally came down she turned to look at us both. "Well be careful and have fun." We nodded and hurried out of the house.

"Where are we meeting everyone?" I asked as we walked past the car.

"Thomas' house," Braiden replied before turning to walk in the direction of Thomas' house.

When we finally reached Thomas' house, his Dad opened the door and told us everyone was upstairs. When we walked into Thomas' bedroom Connor and Riley were sitting on his bed and I could hear Thomas singing in his bathroom. Braiden rolled his eyes and went to sit on the end of the bed while I laughed.

"Looks like you two have competition for best vocal ability," I commented loudly to Riley and Connor making them smile at me.

"Shut up Emma!" Thomas shouted from the bathroom. I walked over and sat next to Riley who put his arm around me and watched Connor and Braiden as they walked into the bathroom to bug Thomas.

"This is going to be a long day," Riley muttered making me laugh at him.

...

"Now the challenge of getting all of our stuff into the car," Thomas commented looking suspicious at the car boot before turning to look at us.

"I say we just chuck everything in and hope for the best," Connor replied before putting his bags in the car, Braiden laughed and followed his lead. After ten minutes we managed to close all of the car doors with us and all the bags inside. "Victory dance!" Connor quickly switched on the radio and turned it to full volume and started head banging with the others copying him. I sat shocked for a moment at the outburst before joining in with them a bit more hesitantly.

After about half an hour of dancing to pop songs on the radio we all laughed and leaned back calmly trying to get our energy back. "That's my exercise done," Braiden commented before pulling out his headphones.

After a few miles of driving Riley leaned over the back seat to try and reach for his guitar, I ducked down in my seat to give him more room so he could get it quickly and sit back down but Connor had other ideas. He suddenly stopped the car making Riley lose his balance and fall with his head in my lap and his legs at an awkward angle against the window. "Not funny," Riley argued when he finally got his guitar.

"Looked pretty funny from here," Connor replied before opening the door to put gas into the car.

"I need the toilet," I muttered crawling over Braiden to get out of the car.

"Want me to come and help you find it?" Braiden asked smiling at me, he knew by now that I wasn't that independent.

"Yes please," I replied as he jumped out of the car. Once we reached the toilet which had turned out to be just around the side of the building Braiden patted my shoulder and opened the door. "Thank you."

"No problem, I'll meet you back at the car okay?" I nodded before he turned to walk back the way we had just come. I stepped into the small room and looked up at the flickering lights before closing and locking the door. When I was done I turned to slide the rusty lock across to open the door but it wouldn't move. I sighed in frustration and hit the door trying to get it to open. After a few minutes of trying the light suddenly turned off making me panic, this was something that would happen in a horror movie before the person was killed. I patted my pocket trying to find my phone to call one of the guys to come and help me.

"Crap!" I half shouted when I realised my phone was still in the car. I kept trying to open the door put I knew it wouldn't budge.

"Emma, are you still in there?" Braiden asked from outside the door. I grinned and nearly did a happy dance.

"Yes! The stupid door's stuck," I replied still trying to push the door open.

"Why are you standing outside the woman's toilet Braiden?" another voice asked, I heard a few sets of footsteps showing all of them were now outside the door, I groaned knowing they were probably going to make fun of me because of this for months.

"Emma can't open the door," Braiden replied making someone laugh, I recognised it as Thomas', of course he would laugh at this.

"Having fun in there Emma?" Connor asked laughing.

"No... It smells," I replied leaning against the door looking through the big crack at them. They all laughed and walked towards the door.

"Okay... get away from the door and I'll try to open it for you Hun," Thomas said shaking the door slightly. I moved back three small steps which was as far back as I could go. After about a minute Thomas somehow managed to get the door to swing open, I sighed in relief and walked out of the small room. "Geez, you were right it does smell bad in there," Thomas commented sticking his head into the room before closing the door again.

The whole walk back to the car I hid my head in Riley's shoulder as Connor and Thomas joked about me being locked in there for fifteen minutes before anyone realised. Riley rubbed my shoulder and glared at the back of their heads while Braiden rolled his eyes at them.

"Okay young ones...entertain yourselves for the rest of the drive," Connor joked as Braiden moved to the driver seat. I sat quietly in the back of the car listening to Riley play random tunes on his guitar. "That sounded pretty cool, play that again." Connor turned slightly in his seat to look at Riley while nodding in approval. After a while of us all giving Riley ideas and telling him what sounded good and bad he had written the guitar part for a new song.

"All we need now is lyrics," Riley commented looking at us all.

"Well then get on it little brother... Emma seen as your stuck in the back with him, you help too," Connor said while grinning before turning back to face the front.

"Let's get on it then," Riley mumbled to me smiling while pulling paper out of his bag by his feet. I nodded slightly and moved closer to see what ideas he was writing down.

...

"Tampa!" Thomas shouted as we drove past a sign showing us we had finally arrived at our destination. I laughed at him and turned to look at Riley who was now sleeping in the seats in the back of the car while I was in the middle row. I pulled out my camera and filmed him sleeping, I nearly dropped the camera in shock when he suddenly sat up and grinned at me. Riley laughed at the look of shock on my face and sat up properly again.

"How long's left?" Riley asked while stretching.

"It's about ten minutes away," Braiden replied looking at us through the review mirror.

...

When we pulled up at the place where they were going to be playing, I inwardly groaned when I saw lines of girls all glammed up in dresses and covered in make-up. I never liked the fact that the majority of them were basically undressing the guys with their eyes and flirted with them...especially Riley. We walked into the building carry all the equipment that they needed and set it up quickly before people started to arrive in the room. While the guys went in one of the back rooms to get changed and to warm up.

When everyone was in the room, some people recognised me and smiled while some of the girls glared at me. I tried to ignore them and started filming. As soon as they all saw the camera they all started screaming and waving, I stopped myself from rolling my eyes knowing they were part of the reason the guys band had made it.

Once the four of them walked everyone in the room everyone started screaming again, I gave them all thumbs up as they smiled over at me, I blushed slightly when Riley gave me a wink before sitting down.

After they had finished play 'One Last Time' Riley turned to look at me a smirked while Braiden looked over and gave me a sheepish smile. What the hell were they up to now?

"Okay guys... do you mind if we play you a new song?" Connor asked the crowd making them scream in response. "Riley wrote it with the help from Emma, Braiden's little sister on the drive up here, so Emma you're going to have to come up here to help us." I stood frozen in shock staring at Connor as if he had grown an extra head. I had sung parts in the song but I thought those were Connors parts or someone else...not me.

Riley came over and grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the stage."You'll be fine, just sing like you did in the car," Riley whispered in my ear before moving me to sit in the available seat. I looked over to Braiden who smiled at me and nodded encouragingly.

Riley took my hand in his and nodded for Connor to start playing before starting to sing.

(_Riley_, Emma, **Both**)

_I Remember What You Wore On The First Day,  
>You Came Into My Life And I Thought<br>"Hey, You Know, This Could Be Something,"  
>'Cause Everything You Do And Words You Say,<br>You Know That It All Takes My Breath Away,  
>And Now I'm Left With Nothing.<em>

**So Maybe It's True,  
>That I Can't Live Without You,<br>And Maybe Two Is Better Than One,  
>But There's So Much Time,<br>To Figure Out The Rest Of My Life,  
>And You've Already Got Me Coming Undone,<br>And I'm Thinking Two Is Better Than One.**

I Remember Every Look Upon Your Face,  
><em>The Way You Roll Your Eyes,<br>The Way You Taste,_  
><em>You Make It Hard For Breathing,<em>  
>'Cause When I Close My Eyes And Drift Away,<br>I Think Of You And Everything's Okay,  
>I'm Finally Now Believing.<p>

**That Maybe It's True,  
>That I Can't Live Without You,<br>And Maybe Two Is Better Than One,  
>But There's So Much Time,<br>To Figure Out The Rest Of My Life,  
>And You've Already Got Me Coming Undone,<br>And I'm Thinking Two Is Better Than One.  
><strong>  
><em>I Remember What You Wore On The First Day,<br>You Came Into My Life And I Thought, "Hey,"  
><em>  
><strong>Maybe It's True,<br>That I Can't Live Without You,  
>Maybe Two Is Better Than One,<br>But There's So Much Time,  
>To Figure Out The Rest Of My Life,<br>And You've Already Got Me Coming Undone,**  
><strong>And I'm Thinking,<br>I Can't Live Without You,  
>'Cause, Baby, Two Is Better Than One,<br>But There's So Much Time,  
>To Figure Out The Rest Of My Life,<br>But I'll Figure It Out,  
>When All Is Said And Done,<br>Two Is Better Than One,  
>Two Is Better Than One<strong>.

I loosened my grip on Riley's hand and finally looked up from the ground when the song had finished to see the crowd clapping and smiling at us. The next thing I knew, Braiden, Connor and Thomas got off their seats to start a group hug between the five of us. I hugged them all quickly before rushing off the stage to sit where I had been previously sitting.

After they had finished the set Braiden walked over to me smiling. "So, how does it feel knowing you faced a fear?" I raised my eyebrows at him and pulled him in for a quick hug. "I mean stage fright, afraid of people outside our group in general..." I punched him on the shoulder but I didn't comment seen as I knew he was right. "Well I'm proud of you."

While the guys walked about meeting all of the fans that had come to see them, I stood to the side and waited for them to finish. "Emma right?" A group of girls looking at me asked.

"Umm... Yeah," I hesitantly replied not knowing why they wanted to talk to me.

"You're an amazing singer, you should sing with the boys more often," One of the girls commented shocking me.

"Thanks," I replied, they all laughed, I was conscious for a moment before I realised they must have been laughing at how shocked I was.

"I'm guessing by that look of shock, you don't sing in front of many people?" Another girl asked.

"What gave it away?" I asked laughing slightly.

"Everything really, were sorry we have to go but it was really nice to meet you," She said smiling at me.

"Okay bye... and thanks," I managed to say making them come to hug me before leaving. I stood in the same spot for a minute shocked... they actually liked me and not hated me.

...

"Okay, we've got to go and play at a house party now," Connor said as we all sat in the car again. "Do you two want to play the new song again?" I hesitated and looked at Riley for help but went to turn around again when I saw he was giving me the puppy dog eyes that I couldn't resist.

"Please Em...I loved singing with you," Riley mumbled to me. I sighed and looked at my lap before looking back at him.

"Fine... I'll sing it again," I replied making them all cheer.

...

When we got to the house I sat behind all of the guests watching them play until it was time to sing with them. They had left it until the last song which was good in a way because I had time to calm down and get ready but I couldn't enjoy listening to them play because I was singing the words in my head to make sure I didn't forget them.

After they finished playing they sat and have a conversation with the fans while I sat quietly and listened to them, Braiden came over and ruffled my hair while everyone stood up. "Having fun over here Miss. Anti Social?"

"I'm not Anti Social; I'm letting you talk to your fans..." I replied jokingly glaring at him. He started laughing but then stopped when we walked into the kitchen and saw Connor trying to make the household dog dance with him.

After a lot of energy drinks it was time for us to leave. As we were walking down the drive towards the car Connor decided it was a good idea to run and jump into one of the bushes alongside the drive way. I leaned into Riley and watched in amusement as he jumped and disappeared falling onto the floor. When he finally got up and walked over to us he had grass stuck to his jumper and was slightly limping.

"Regret doing it now?" I asked trying not to laugh. He looked at me and nodded slightly before walking over to the car.

...

When we got into the hotel room is was past midnight, but we all still had energy left after all the energy drinks we had. When I walked out of the bathroom after changing Thomas was lying on the sofa, Riley was sitting at his laptop and Connor and Braiden were lying on one bed.

"You're sleeping on that bed with Riley," Thomas commented not even looking up at me. I looked at Riley shocked that they were letting us sleep in the same bed. He smiled slightly and shrugged his shoulders before closing his laptop.

Everyone got ready for bed and turned off the lights as Riley was still walking over to the bed making him have to feel his way over. I stifled a laugh as he nearly tripped over his own bag before getting under the covers. We had shared a bed before so I weren't nervous... but I wasn't sure whether to stay at the other side of the bed or to move closer to him. He answered my unasked question when he opened his arms to motion for me to move to him. I hid a smile and wrapped my arms around his stomach and laid my head on his chest while he wrapped his arms around me and traced circles on my side with his thumb.

"Keep it PG-13 you two," Braiden mumbled from his bed making us laugh.

...

When I woke up, I saw the other three throwing stuff about the room. I looked up at Riley and saw he was starting to wake up as well. I blushed when I realised we had moved positions during the night and I was now lying half across Riley with my leg over his crotch area...which was hard. I went even redder when I saw the tent that was now visible in Riley's trousers as he went to pull the bed sheet off us.

"Sorry," He mumbled embarrassed as he pulled the sheet back over us. I looked over and saw the others weren't paying attention to us. I weren't really sure how to react, I didn't bother me what had happened to him but both of us, especially Riley would die of embarrassment if the guys noticed this situation.

"Do you want me to distract them so you can get to the toilet?" I whispered. He nodded slightly making go to get out from under the covers, before my feet could touch the floor Riley pulled me back down onto his lap. I looked at him confused before I noticed Thomas was now looking for something by our bed.

"Are you two getting out of bed anytime soon?" Thomas asked before walking to the other side of the room. I stood up and pulled Riley with me. I walked over to the guys while he went to the bathroom to do...

...

As we were packing, I suddenly realised how much of a mess the room was, there was pizza boxes on the bed, pictures that had been handing on the wall were half broken, so to simplify it the room looked nothing like it previously had.

"If the maid that cleans this room see's this video, she'll be like 'oh no, they didn't those boys did not...I had to clean up that room," Thomas commented putting his last few items in his bag.

"Ready?" Riley asked me back to his smiley self, I went on my tip toes and kissed him quickly before taking his hand and following the others out of the room and down to the lobby.

...

We all groaned when we saw the lines of cars in front of us. "It's going to take forever to get home," Braiden commented from his spot in front of me and Riley. After a while of us all sitting in silence watching all the cars that went moving Connor and Thomas decided to get out of the car to have a stretch. We watched from the car as they jokingly started to do star jumps to entertain themselves.

"About this morning..." Riley commented quietly when we were the only ones in the car.

"Don't worry about it, It wasn't your fault," I replied smiling at him.

"No it was yours," He replied making a weird movement with his eyebrows. I could feel my faces going red again so I tried to hide in his shoulder making him laugh.

...

"Don't wake her up!" Someone shouted... too late for that. I was in someone's arms being carried up a flight of stairs. I opened my eyes and saw Braiden carrying me up the stairs in our house with the others behind him carrying our bags. Braiden looked down at me and smiled slightly. "Go back to sleep Em's." I closed my eyes again and felt him placing me on my bed. I snuggled into my pillow and kept my eyes closed even though I could feel them all standing over me.

"Oh, she's so cute when she's asleep, this is the time when I like her the most," Connor commented making them all laugh slightly. "Bye Emma," I felt him quickly kiss my forehead before walking away.

"See you tomorrow Emma," Thomas said walking over and also kiss my forehead.

"Sweet Dreams Em," Braiden mumbled peaking my forehead.

"I love you Emma," Riley muttered before giving me a quick kiss. By the time I had opened my eyes from the shock he was halfway out of the doorway.

...


	12. Dinner at the McDonoughs

When I woke up the next morning I smiled slightly remembering what had happened the previous night. I knew I had basically loved Riley since the day I met him, but I was unsure whether he had said it as a spur of the moment type thing or if he really meant it. I also didn't know if I should bring it up when I see him next; I desperately wanted him to know I loved him.

I got out of bed and changed into my black skinny jeans and a flannel shirt. Once I was ready I walked downstairs and saw my Mum sitting on the sofa watching television. "Good morning Mum," I said before I walked into the kitchen. I could faintly hear her standing up and follow me.

"I have some news that you're going to love!" she replied grinning at me.

"What's that?" I asked while opening the cupboards looking for something to eat.

"Your Father is coming home today," she answered; I looked back at her and smiled slightly. "Don't make plans for tonight; we'll go out for a family meal!"

"Family meal?" Braiden asked walking through the doorway, he peaked my forehead briefly before reaching over to grab a bowl for his cereal.

"Yes. Your Father is coming home, so tonight we're going to act like a proper family."

"Actually, the McDonough's invited us all over tonight, even Thomas' family," Braiden said turning to face us. "Mrs. M told me last night while you were asleep," he said when he saw my confused face. I didn't know whether I should be relived to get out of the meal or to now be worried about our parents being in the same room as everyone. I knew all of them secretly hated our parents the minute they found out how much time we were left alone, that was partly the reason why the guys stayed over so much or why we stayed over their houses.

"Great, we'll get to spend time with everyone," She said before walking back out of the room.

"Why do I have a feeling this is going to end badly?" Braiden asked watching our Mum from our spot.

"Maybe because it is," I replied before walking back upstairs.

...

"Knock, knock," Braiden said out loud instead of actually knocking on my bedroom door. I looked up from my book at him and smiled. I marked my page and sat up properly on the bed as he sat down next to me. "Dad's five minutes away so you might want to come downstairs." I nodded and stood up to follow him downstairs.

When I got down there I was slightly mad to see our Mum had put up a banner saying _'welcome home'_ up for him and covered the floor with balloons. She had been away from him for a week tops and had done all of this... We had been away for a month and didn't even get a text. I looked over at Braiden and saw him staring at the floor with his hands in his pocket.

The sound of a car door being slammed brought us both out of our thoughts. The front door opened and our Dad pulled our Mum into a hug. I wanted to say I had missed him and honestly think about how much I loved my parents but I couldn't... My whole life I had wanted to be praised by them or loved but I never was. I just wanted to get out of the house and as far away from them as possible, but I couldn't. I knew I would disappoint Braiden if I did. Maybe now that they were both back they'd even try harder.

After Dad had hugged Braiden he walked over and gave me a brief hug before walking over to his bag. "Well, I come bearing gifts," He informed us pulling out three wrapped packages. He handed them to us before leaning against the sofa watching us. I looked up at my Mum when I heard her screech and saw her holding a diamond necklace grinning. "It's beautiful right?" Dad asked before turning to look at me and Braiden. We swapped a nervous glance before opening the presents. I froze when I saw it was a packet of Disney children's lip-gloss.

I looked over and saw Braiden holding a handful of guitar picks that had designs on them. "Thanks Dad," Braiden commented still looking through the selection he had in his hand.

"Emma? Do you have something to say?" Mum asked looking over at me with get eyebrows raised.

"Umm, thanks?" I replied hesitantly.

"You're welcome. I knew you'd all like them. Okay, I'm going to take a nap," he told us before walking upstairs.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as I sat down. I smiled brightly when I saw it was from Riley.

_The sleepover tonight will be so fun! It'll just be like old times! xxxx_

"We're sleeping over Riley and Connor's house tonight?" I shouted over to Braiden who was in the kitchen.

"Umm, yeah I forgot to tell you. Riley the one that told you?" He asked walking into the room laughing quietly. I nodded while texting Riley back. "He was useful for once." I glared at him slightly watching him walk away before turning my attention back to my phone

...

That night I was in my room getting my bag ready for the sleepover. After I was done I changed into one of the only dresses I owned seen as Mrs. M had told us to dress formal. The dress was black and had small White music notes around the bottom; I grabbed my black Vans and a long White cardigan to go with it. I looked in the mirror and partly hated how much of a girl I looked. I had always been scared the guys would make fun of me if they saw me dressed like this; I guess I would find out tonight if they would. I grabbed my bag and walked downstairs to see Braiden sitting on the sofa texting someone.

When he looked up and saw me I grew frightened of his expression. "Do I really look that bad?" I asked, trying to pull my cardigan tighter around myself.

"No Sis. You look lovely. I just forgot for a second that you were a girl because you hardly dress like that," he replied smiling at me.

"Thanks...I think," I said before turning to watch my parents walk down the stairs towards us.

"Are you both ready to go?" Mum asked barley glancing up from her purse. Braiden placed his hand on my shoulder leading me out of the door and towards the car.

During the drive we all sat in complete silence, thank god it was a very short drive to the McDonough house. When Mr. McDonough opened the door he gave our parents a polite smile and hand shake before pulling me and Braiden into hugs. He quickly led us into the dining room where everyone except Mrs. McDonough and Silvers were.

Riley smiled at me before walking over to give me a hug. "You look beautiful as usual," he whispered into my ear before pulling away and saying hello to my parents who smiled back at him. "This is going to be awkward." I laughed and kissed his cheek quickly.

"Hopefully they'll leave early, should I go and help your Mum?" I asked standing on my tip toes trying to see Mrs. McDonough in the kitchen.

"I think she'd like the offer but would tell you to go and sit back down," he replied wrapping his arm around me.

"I'll go and offer anyway," I told him before squeezing his hand and walking towards the kitchen. As I passed Thomas, Connor and Toby I patted their heads, they looked up and smiled at me before turning back to their conversation.

When I reached the kitchen both Mrs. McDonough and Mrs. Silvers were in there cooking. They looked up and smiled at me as I walked in. "Emma, you look lovely," Mrs. McDonough said while Mrs. Silvers nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, you both look lovely too," I replied, they both smiled at me before swapping a look. "Do you want any help?"

"No dear, go and sit with the others," Mrs. Silvers replied, when I didn't move she shooed me away with a dish towel. I laughed before walking back into the dining room. I took the available seat next to Riley. He smiled at me before taking my hand in his and turning his attention back to the conversation between the other guys.

"Okay, the starters are ready!" Mrs. McDonough shouted as she walked through the doorway before placing the food in front of us all. While we were eating I was right next to Riley again which had become a habit in situations like this. The adults all kept up a conversation throughout the night while I listened to the guys discussing new songs they had discovered.

"So, seen as we're all here, we wanted to ask you something?" Connor spoke up after the conversation had ended.

"What's that?" Mr. McDonough asked looking over at us all.

"Spring breaks soon, so we were hoping to go on a small road trip," Thomas imputed.

"I don't see why not, it'll be similar to being on tour. You have to be responsible though," Mr. Silvers said making Connor and Thomas hi-five.

"Mum? Dad? Can me and Emma go?" Braiden asked making me shift in my seat nervously. I felt Riley's arm wrap around me and give me a reassuring squeeze.

"You're old enough to make decisions, if you want to, go. We're due to go on a trip to Brazil before then anyway," Dad replied making everyone shift uncomfortably.

"Just don't come back pregnant Emma," Mum commented, Riley spat out water from the glass he had been drinking out of during that comment.

"Mum!" I half shouted, I patted Riley's back trying to help him to stop choking.

"It could happen, I don't want people to think I have a whore as a child," she argued. Everyone suddenly went quiet at the table and watched what was happening in shock. I looked over at Braiden for help but saw him staring at our parents in disbelief. "Plus if you're pregnant, you will not be living under our roof."

"Excuse me, but my son would never harm Emma in any way possible! You would know that if you stayed around long enough to know a thing about your children and their friends!" Mrs. McDonough snapped as everyone else glared at our parents. I sat in shock squeezing Riley's hand. My parents had not only said all of that but Mrs. M was shouting, which was something I've never seen her do. "Now if you don't mind, please leave."

Once they were out of the door Connor started to clap with everyone closely following his lead. Braiden walked over and quickly pulled me into a hug while I still held Riley's hand. "Ignore them, even if you do get pregnant I'll be here," he told me, I jokingly punched him before following the others into the sitting room.

"Everyone go and change! Be back here in fifteen minutes," Connor instructed before walking out of the room.

Riley grabbed my hand and pulled me up to his room while carrying my bag. "I won't look if you don't, promise," he said smiling as we turned away from each other. I changed quickly and waited for him to finish. After a few minutes I couldn't hear any sound except his breathing.

"Wait, are you done?" I asked ignoring the temptation of wanting to turn around.

"Yeah, you?" he replied, I turned around the same time as him and laughed. His smile faded as he pulled me into a hug. "Are you okay?" I snuggled deeper into his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm sorry they ruined the dinner," I replied speaking into his shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault; the stuff they said was...Completely wrong. I'll always be here for you, you know that right? No matter what. Even if you killed Connor..." I laughed at him before standing up properly and leaning my forehead against his.

"I love you," I whispered to him. I smiled when I saw him grinning.

"I love you too," he replied before leaning in for a kiss.

When we walked into the sitting room everyone was already in there sitting around the television. I sat down on the available sofa and pulled Riley with me. I rubbed Tanks head; he was currently relaxing by our feet staring at the screen as if he was waiting for it to be turned on.

...

After a marathon of movies we all decided it was time to go to sleep seen as half to group had fallen asleep. I grabbed a few sleeping bags and placed them over everyone that had fallen asleep before sitting back on the sofa next to a sleeping Riley and pulling the sleeping bag over us both. I felt Riley lean into me more; I smiled and kissed his forehead before playing with his hair until I fell asleep.

...


	13. Gibson Guitar Factory

"Urg, Tank No!" I opened my eyes to see Riley with his head on my lap with Tank licking his face. I laughed slightly before picking Tank up and putting him on the floor. "Thank you," I smiled as a response while watching him rub the sleep out of his eyes. I looked up and saw that everyone was still asleep.

"Want to get revenge for all the time's they've picked on us?" I asked quietly not wanting to wake the others up. He grinned at me before pulling us both out of the room quietly. When we got into the kitchen Riley's parents were both sitting at the table.

"Why do you both have that evil glint in your eyes?" Mr. McDonough asked smiling at us.

"Payback," Riley replied before pulling out two cans of whipped cream from the fridge.

"Try not to make a lot of mess!" Mrs. McDonough commented laughing at us. Riley handed me one of the cans and I followed him back into the room where everyone was sleeping.

"You get Thomas and Braiden and I'll get Connor and Toby," Riley whispered before walking towards his brother. I tip-toed over and kneeled down next to Thomas, I shook the can and drew a moustache and glasses on his face. I laughed, pleased with my work before moving over to do the same to Braiden. "And pictures are taken and being uploaded to twitter." My phone buzzed showing his tweet had been uploaded. "You get my tweets to your phone?" I looked over and saw him grinning; I shoved him lightly before unlocking my phone to see what he had done.

'_Evil revenge with Emma'_

I burst out laughing when I saw the picture of them all sleeping oblivious to what was on their faces. "Time to wake them up I guess," I commented looking at them all. Riley walked past me to the remote and turned the music channel on; All Time Low was currently playing so he turned it up to its full volume. The four of them jumped up in shock, Toby even fell off the sofa, I felt kind of bad seen as he didn't deserve it like the others did but it was still funny.

I sat on Riley's knee still laughing as we watched the four of them turn to glare at us when they realised what we had done. "Well played you two," A voice said from the doorway. I turned and saw Mr and Mrs McDonough standing filming us.

"I suppose we partly deserved that," Connor said from his spot, "I'm going to use the shower, once we've got this off and changed we can go out somewhere."

"Let's go and get ready," Riley said lifting me up off his knee and pulling me up the stairs to his room.

"They got us good," Thomas mumbled to Braiden making us swap a smug look.

"There probably going to try and get us back for that now," I laughed grabbing my bag.

"I did not think of it that way," Riley replied before walking over to pull clothes out of his wardrobe. "Do you have clothes to change into?"

"Umm yeah, except for a jacket, I'll just have to wear that cardigan again," I told him trying to hide the disgust in my voice. He laughed making me look up at him. He pulled his gray stripped hoodie out of his closet before walking over to hand it to me.

"Wear this, I know it's your favourite anyway," He said before kissing my head and walking out of the room towards the bathroom. I changed quickly and pulled Riley's hoodie over my head, I smiled when I realised it smelled like him. I tidied my hair before putting everything back in my bag and pulled out my toothbrush ready for when the bathroom was free. I sat down on the bed and waited for Riley to come back in.

A minute there was a quiet knock on the door. "You changed yet?" Connors voice asked. I walked over and opened the door for him. "Bathrooms free for you to use, good job this morning by the way." He patted my shoulder before walking back down the hallway.

After finishing in the bathroom, I walked downstairs to see everyone in the kitchen eating. "About time, it takes you ages to get ready," Thomas said with his mouth full.

"I don't take that long!" I argued.

"Leave my sister alone Thomas," Braiden commented from his spot throwing his crust at Thomas' head.

"Okay, I was thinking maybe we could take a trip down to the Gibson store today. We all have savings left plus it will be a nice visit," Connor interrupted going into business mode. I sat quietly listening to them all talk about wanting to buy new guitars while playing with the friendship bracelet I always wore on my left wrist. All of the boys had chipped into buying it for me when they went to play their first ever gig and I wasn't allowed to go. I wasn't much but it was the best item I owned in my opinion. They had bought beads with their initials on them and so it said Before you Exit.

_R.M, C.M, B.Y.E, T.S, B.W_

"Em, do you mind being the cameraman for the day?" Connor asked snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Of course not," I replied before finishing my food.

"I'll drive," Braiden said leading everyone out of the front door. I looked up confused, I didn't even realise they had decided to leave straight away. I really need to stop daydreaming. I walked behind them all towards the car; I sat down next to Riley and shared his earphone while the others talked about some game the entire drive.

...

"Okay, so tell the viewers where we are Braiden," I told him as we waited for the others to get their stuff out of the car. I nodded to him to show him I was filming.

"Hey, what's up? Here we are, about to go to the Gibson store," He commented pointing towards the building.

"Yey," Connor shouted while walking behind me.

"Sponsorship," Braiden continued before walking off towards the building. I filmed them all walking away before running quickly to catch up with them.

"Emma, why don't you go ahead and film us walking towards the building," Thomas suggested smiling like a little kid. I rolled my eyes and walked towards the door trying my best not to trip over.

When I reached the door I turned around and started to film them walking towards me. "This doesn't look planned at all," I shouted to the sarcastically as they pretended to smile and had have a conversation. "Can I stop now?" I asked when they were standing right in front of me grinning.

"Yes," Braiden answered laughing. Riley grabbed my hand and half pulled me to follow the others inside the building. I laughed and let Riley pull me around to look at all of the guitars, they all looked as if they were in heaven the second they saw all of the guitars hung up on the walls and in cases.

After about ten minutes of watching them admire the guitars they decided to go upstairs to the other section.

"Making our way..." Connor said as the elevator doors closed.

"Second floor," Braiden stated.

"One, two..." Thomas counted waiting for the door to open. "BEEP!" Thomas tried to guess when the door would open but failed.

"Is there only two floors?" Riley asked as we all stared at the door waiting for it to open.

When the door finally opened they all squeaked like little girls and rushed out. I stood in shock for a moment before laughing and following them out.

"Oh my God..." Connor muttered to himself.

...

While we were all sitting in the seating area waiting for a staff member Thomas picked up a magazine to read while the others spoke quietly.

"Reading a magazine?" Connor asked when he realised what Thomas was doing.

"I don't know what it's called..." Thomas replied, flicking through the pages.

"Thomas doesn't know how to read yet," Braiden whispered from his spot next to me when he realised I was filming them.

"Yes...Thomas is still learning how to read," Connor imputed. Going along with their story, Thomas turned the magazine upside-down and laughed.

"I want to live here," I joked after a few minutes.

"It's very nice, very nice interior. I don't know how to explain it, there's just guitars everywhere," Braiden joked along.

...

When the woman that was to show us around finally turned up, I walked in the back behind Riley and filmed all the guitars and rooms as we walked seen as I had nothing else to do. After a few minutes I started to get bored, I loved guitars but not as much as them...

When they finally stopped in one of the back rooms I hugged Riley from behind and rested my head on his shoulder to watch the others examine everything. Riley turned his head slightly to smile at me before kissing my forehead from the awkward angle. I lowered my hands making him stare at me in shock, I laughed quietly before pulling his iPod out of his front pocket. Riley shook his head laughing at me before helping me untangle the earphones.

For the rest of the tour I carried on filming everything letting Riley pull me along but I no longer listened to what the woman was telling them.

I brightened up when I saw that we were going onto the balcony, I was too dark in the building. "It's like a party area," Thomas commented once we were all outside.

"Were in heaven right now," Connor replied making me smile. I looked over and laugh at the look of shock on Riley's face as he looked around.

"So, we just sit around now?" Braiden asked making me walk over to the one-seater before Connor could.

"Great, now I have to sit by one of them idiots," he complained before sitting down with everyone following his lead.

"I'm going to the toilet," Thomas said after five minutes of sitting around. As he walked off Riley turned to look at me smirking.

"Do you want to go and bug him?" Riley asked, I laughed and nodded, we had nothing better to do.

As we were walking to the bathroom we passed Connor and Braiden who were picking out which guitars they wanted to try out from the wall. When we reached the door I turned on the camera and faced Riley.

"Thomas is in the bathroom," He said before walking over to knock the door. After there was no reply he tried to open the door by the handle but luckily Thomas had locked it. I held in my laughter as Riley continued to knock the door. A few seconds later we heard the toilet flush and Thomas opened the door and sprayed us with water.

"That's disgusting, you don't know who's used that," I moaned making him laugh.

When we walked back to the others they were in the practice room playing the guitars they had been looking at earlier. I nodded to Riley to show him the camera was on, he walked forward and wrapped his arms around my stomach to try and see the screen on the camera "It's the practice room, hey Braiden show us that guitar," he shouted after a few seconds. Braiden stopped playing to show off the guitar, "Sweet," Riley gave him a thumb up covering half the view on the camera.

...

When we went back in the elevator Thomas let out a small laugh, we all looked over at him while I turned on the camera hoping he would do something funny. "She's like ohm..." He started to say as Riley looked over and smiled once he saw I was filming again yet the others were oblivious. "Anything you don't see that you have in mind, it's probably in our door of everything. Our closet of everything, Heaven of guitars."

All of them quickly walked out of the elevator laughing while I followed them "Oh there's Braiden's guitar," Connor said when he walked past a plastic guitar that was double Braiden's size. "Only twice his size."

"Isn't his guitar normally bigger than that? That one's too small," I argued watching Braiden pretend to play it.

"Yeah, Emma's right..." Connor joked as Braiden walked towards us.

...

When we were finally out of there, we headed back to the car to drive home. Me and Riley swapped a look of amusement as Connor and Thomas started to sign along badly to the radio. Braiden rolled his eyes and put his earphones in to ignore them. For the first few songs I found it amusing but then I got a headache and turned Riley's iPod back on and gave him one of the earphones.

...

When we pulled up outside of Braiden and I's house, it finally hit me that I was going to have to face my parents again after their behaviour the previous night. The guy's had managed to distract me all day but now there was no getting away from it.

"Good luck Emma bear, Braiden bear," Thomas commented from the front making me smile at him.

"Don't kill them," Connor imputed as Braiden got out of the car. I leaned over and peaked Riley's cheek quickly before jumping out of the car shouting a goodbye. I gratefully took my bag off Braiden and followed him up to the door.

"Mum, Dad, are you home?" Braiden shouted out, I silently prayed that they weren't. I groaned when I saw them both walk through the doorway.

"You're finally home," Mum stated looking at us suspiciously

"Yeah, we went to the Gibson Store with the others."

"Emma, can we talk to you?" My Dad asked making me step closer to Braiden; I looked back and saw the others were quietly watching from the car.

"Okay..." I replied waiting for them to start talking.

"Privately," My Mum snapped before walking in the kitchen with my Dad following her.

"I'll wait here okay," Braiden mumbled as the others got out of the car probably because they saw the look of horror on our faces. I nodded and gave a slight smile to the others before walking into the kitchen.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked them not bothering to close the door; if they started shouting at me Braiden would easily hear and come to help me.

"It's about yesterday..." My Dad answered, I instantly thought they were going to apologise before I saw my Mum reach in her bag to pull out something. "Use them wisely."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I screamed when I saw she had handed me a packet of condoms. I could faintly hear four pairs of feet running towards the kitchen behind me but I ignored it.

"Emma Amelia Wood! I do not want those filthy words coming out of your mouth!" she screamed back.

"Well they fucking did!" I replied, cursing again to piss her off.

"Have some manors young lady!"

"This is for your own good, you're lucky we are allowing you to have a boyfriend," Mum argued back.

"Well, you're not around long enough to know if I did anyway," I half shouted as Braiden walked forward to place his hand on my shoulder. I wanted to stop but everything was coming out of my mouth before I could even process what was happening. "Why do you care anyway? You never have, but now that you know people are judging you, you become the parents that we needed five years ago not now! We've had to learn how to look after ourselves!"

"Don't you dare point the finger at us! Where has this attitude come from? You were always a polite child until you started hanging around with those immature boys!"

"Don't you dare blame any of this on them! If anything they've made me a better person, they were there for me when you two weren't. They're my family unlike you!"

"Go to your room now," Dad said as Braiden pulled me out of the room. "And you four out as well..." I turned to look at them to see them all smiling at me before walking out and back towards the car. "Braiden can we speak to you alone?"

"No, I'm taking my baby sister up to her room and away from you two," He replied before leading me up to my room. Once we sat on the bed he burst out laughing, I turned and gave him a look of shock before chucking the condoms my parents gave me under the bed. "That was awesome, their faces when you started screaming and swearing, I'm surprised the guys and I didn't burst out laughing in their faces."

"Well they annoyed me..."I replied laughing.

"Don't worry were going out with the others and its spring break soon so we'll be away from them," He kissed my forehead before walking towards the door. "So just go and do your nightly call to Riley, he was probably thinking of a joke about the condoms the whole drive home." I laughed and reached over to get my phone while throwing one of the pillows at Braidens head before he closed the door.

...


	14. The Accident

The next morning I stayed in bed as long as possible not wanting to face my parents after everything that had happened the previous night. When I looked at the clock I groaned seeing it was an hour until the others came to pick us up, so I knew I would have to get up. After I had washed and changed into my skinny jeans, a t-shirt and my vans I walked downstairs. Braiden was nowhere to be seen and my parents were both sitting at the kitchen table drinking their coffee and whispering to each other.

"Good morning Emma," My Dad greeted once he noticed me standing in the doorway. I was shocked at how polite he was being after 'my attitude' last night.

"Morning," I replied before walking over to quickly make myself breakfast.

"Can you sit down with us for a moment please," Mum said, even though she was talking politely, the look on her face showed I was in trouble. Once I sat down they both swapped a look before turning back to me. "Now, your behaviour last night was unacceptable and we will not allow it. So as your punishment you're grounded." I bit my tongue and tried not to show any emotions as I watched them both look at me.

"Today, you are going to finish all your school work and then tidy the house. Understand?" Dad asked raising his eyebrows at me. I nodded slightly before taking my food upstairs with me.

"Oh no. What happened?" Braiden asked as I passed him going to my room.

"Ask our loving parents," I snapped back before closing my door. I threw the bowl of cereal on my desk but then regretted it once it smashed knowing I was going to have to clean it up later. I huffed to myself and walked over to grab my guitar and notebook. I sat down on my window sill and started to write down ideas.

_You have a way of coming easily to me, _

_and when you take, you take the very best of me,_

_ so I start a fight cause I need to feel something,_

_ and you do what you want cause I'm not what you wanted._

_Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day,_

_ just walk away, no use defending words that you will never say, _

_and now that I'm sitting here thinking it through, _

_I've never been anywhere as cold as you._

_You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray, _

_and I stood there loving you and wished them all away,_

_ and you come away with a great little story,_

_ of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you._

_Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day,_

_ just walk away, no use defending words that you will never say, _

_and now that I'm sitting here thinking it through,_

_ I've never been anywhere as cold as you._

_You never did give a damn thing honey but I cried, cried for you,_

_ and I know you wouldn't have told nobody if I died, died for you._

_Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day,_

_ just walk away, no use defending words that you will never say, _

_and now that I'm sitting here thinking it through,_

_ I've never been anywhere as cold as you._

After five minutes of sitting staring out of my window I saw Thomas' car stop outside our house. Braiden walked out of the door and down the path towards the car. Connor noticed me sitting in my room and waved slightly before open his window to talk to Braiden, they must have been talking about me because Connor suddenly pointed at me, Thomas and Riley moved over to look out of that side of the car while Braiden turned his head to me. I gave them all a wave and smile before reaching over to my desk to grab my laptop.

I watched them all drive away before turning on my laptop to do school work. I laughed slightly when my phone started to go off; I smiled when I saw it was Riley.

"Hello," I answered walking over to my door to make sure my parents weren't near to listen.

"_Your parents are dicks," _Three voices shouted out.

I laughed. "Yes they are."

"_Today's not going to be any fun without you Emma-Bear,"_ Thomas moaned.

"Yes it will be. You can have a guy's day out."

"_But your one of the guys," _Connor augured.

"_Emma's not a guy!"_ Riley shouted, the others laughed in response while I smiled.

"_So what's your punishment?" _Braiden asked.

"I have to do school work and then clean the house."

"_Sucks. But it's worth it, their faces yesterday,"_ Connor imputed, the others shouted their agreements.

Footsteps coming upstairs made me jump and nearly drop my phone. "I have to go! Either Satan one or two is on their way."

"_Bye!"_

I quickly chucked my phone across the room and opened my laptop again just as my Mum opened the door without knocking. "Who were you talking to?"

"No one," I replied opening the school website. I looked over and saw my Mum picking up my phone. "What are you doing with my phone?" I groaned when it suddenly beeped and Riley's name came up. I stifled my laugh when I saw he'd sent me a joke to try and cheer me up.

"Well no distractions," She replied taking my phone with her. "We're going out for the day but don't even think about sneaking out I have Mrs. Evans from across the road watching." I nodded slightly for looking back to my laptop.

Once she closed the door I opened twitter ready to warn Riley.

' _BYEriley don't text me! My Mothers got my phone!'_

I closed my eyes and hoped he hadn't already sent more. Seen as I had an iphone the texts would automatically show. Luckily she didn't know my password so she couldn't see anything else. A few seconds later a new tweet came up.

' _BYEemma whoops! And I already had another joke in mind, damn'_

I rolled my eyes and smiled before going back to my school work.

...

An hour later all my school work was done so I moved onto cleaning the house. I plugged my iPod into my portable speaker and started to clean. When I walked into the kitchen I grabbed the chair to use as a stool to get all the cleaning products from above the cabinets. The chair wobbled and the next thing I knew I was falling towards the floor. I managed to grab the side of the cabinet draws but lost my grip. I hit my head on the handle and fell towards the ground hitting my head again. I looked over towards the phone but before I could attempt to reach for it my vision started to go dark.

...

When I woke up, I wasn't sure how long I had been unconscious. I had to stop myself from gagging when I saw the pool of blood around my head. I grabbed a clean dishcloth out of one of the draws and placed it against my head where the blood was gushing out of.

I looked up at the clock and saw I'd been unconscious for nearly an hour. I went to stand up but fell back down again. I laid my head back on the floor to try and stop the dizziness.

I reached up and pulled the phone down off the chord and sat up slightly. I automatically typed in Braidens number not knowing what to do. When the call went straight to answer-phone I started to panic, the blood was still coming out of my head and I felt as if I was going to lose consciousness again. I tried calling Riley, Connor and Thomas but none of them were answering their phones either.

I took a deep breath trying to calm myself down, the pain in my head was getting unbearable and I had blood and tears streaming down my face. I called Mrs. McDonough, she was the only other person I could think of calling right now.

"_Hello."_

"Toby its Emma! Can you get your Mum for me?"

"_Sure Emma, Mum! Phone!" _I sighed in relief and pushed the cloth harder against my head._"Emma?"_

"Mrs. McDonough I need your help."

"_Sweetheart, what's wrong?"_

"I-I fell and I hit my head a-and..."

"_Where are you?"_

"In my house."

"_I'm on my way over, try not to move a lot and don't fall asleep."_ She hung up quickly; I laid back on the floor relaxing slightly knowing she was on her way.

About five minutes later I heard the door opening, thank goodness we had given her a spare key. When I looked up I saw both her and Toby rushing towards me. "Emma! Oh God, we have to get you to the hospital," Mrs. M shouted as Toby kneeled next to me in shock. "Toby, help Emma up while I grab something to put against her head."

"Okay... be careful Emma," Toby said as he helped me stand up. As Toby was helping me towards the car I nearly fell over in shock when I saw my reflection. My originally white t-shirt was red, there was even blood and the left side of my jeans, my vans had blood on them and the whole left side of my head was smothered in blood with more still coming out.

Once the three of us were in the car, Mrs. M sped off towards the hospital. The entire time she kept looking back at me to make sure I hadn't passed out while Toby held a towel against my head to soak up the blood.

When we finally reached the hospital Toby half carried me in while Mrs. M rushed ahead of us. A nurse was standing next to her with a portable bed next to her. "Dear hop on this quickly," She said patting the bed. Toby helped me get on before walking back to stand with him Mum. They both followed us as the woman pushed the bed I was sitting on into a free room.

"Toby, go and ring the boys," Mrs. M told him as the nurse started to examine my head and started to shine a light in my eyes.

"Well, you've lost a lot of blood, you're going to need stitches and you've got concussion. You're lucky you got here now; if you had arrived any later you would have been in a worse condition."

Once she had walked out of the room, I turned to look at Toby and Mrs. M and groaned. "I have to get stitches!" They both laughed at me before walking closer to the bed.

"Don't worry you can hold my hand," Toby mocked. I glared at him jokingly before turning back to look at Mrs. M.

"Mrs. McDonough, thank you and I'm sorry you had to drive me."

"Sweetheart don't talk like that, you know I think of you as the daughter I never had," She replied brushing my hair out of my face.

"I think of you as my Mum too," I replied smiling at her.

She laughed slightly before turning serious. "Where are your parents? I tried ringing them but there was no answer."

"No idea..."

Her phone then rang; she pulled it out and answered it. "Hello... Connor slow down I can't understand you...No go back and take a left and go up the stairs...No you're on the wrong floor...its room 341." She hung up and laughed slightly. "I hope you don't have a headache or it's about to get worse."

I could faintly hear four pairs of feet running towards the room. I watched as Thomas ran past the room before turning around when he realised he'd gone too far. The four of the them walked into the room out of breath.

"Emma? What happened?" Braiden asked rushing forward and pulling me into a hug.

"Yes, I'd like to hear what happened too," Mrs. M commented smiling slightly. "You gave me a scare."

"I was trying to get cleaning stuff from the cabinet and I fell and hit my head on the cabinet handle and then the floor. I was unconscious for an hour, when I woke up I tried calling you all but there was no answer so I called Mrs. McDonough. End of story," I explained quickly.

"That could only happen to you," Connor commented smiling slightly while shaking his head.

The nurse then walked in holding equipment in her hand. I paled automatically knowing what was going to happen next. "Ready Emma? It's probably best if you all stand the other side of her," She said smiling at them all.

Connor and Thomas quietly sat by my feet watching while Mrs. M and Toby grabbed chairs to sit on by their spot by the door. Braiden quickly walked around the other side to grab my hand, he had learnt by now how worked up I got at hospitals. Riley then walked and stood to Braiden giving me an encouraging smile.

I sat quietly while she fixed my head listening as the guys told me about their day trying to distract me. "It was pretty boring without you; there was no one to tell us if the clothes we picked were stupid..." Thomas commented.

"And no one to keep Riley company," Connor joked as Braiden flinched in pain as I squeezed his hand to stop myself from moaning from the pain.

"Wow! For someone so small you have a tight grip," He said looking at me in pain.

"Sorry," I replied letting go of his hand, he laughed slightly stretching his fingers.

"And...You're done, it weren't that bad was it?" the nurse asked, I looked up at her confused not knowing if it had meant to be a joke. She laughed before turning to look at the clipboard next to her. "Now, you can leave tomorrow but I want you to stay here tonight just to be safe, okay?" I nodded to her before she walked out of the room.

"Emma, I'll go over to your house to get you some clothes and a few things," Mrs. M commented standing up pulling Toby with her.

"Thank you," I replied smiling at her.

"Mum, do you think they'll let us stay here with Emma?" Riley asked, the others grinned and turned to look at her. She laughed before walking towards the door.

"I'll ask the nurse on my way out, if she say's yes I'll grab some thing's for all of you."

"I'm covered in your blood after hugging you; I'm going to the toilet to get it off," Braiden said ruffling my hair, I nodded and watched him walk out with Thomas and Connor following while muttering something about food.

I looked over at Riley and patted the spot next to me. He smiled and laid down next to me pulling me into a hug. "Are you still in pain?" he mumbled into my shoulder.

"Not really," I mumbled. He kissed my forehead and pulled me into a tighter hug.

A cough from the doorway made us pull apart slightly. I was shocked to see both my parents standing there. "The hospital rang to inform us you were here," My Dad said glaring at us, Riley noticed and helped me sit up before moving away slightly to stand up. I grabbed hand and looked at him to silently beg him to stay. He nodded and gave me a smile before squeezing my hand. I looked back at my parents to see them watching us with a confused look.

"So what happened?" Mum asked, I sighed annoyed to have to explain the situation again. Once I told them a guilty look appeared on their faces when they realised it was basically their fault that I was here. "I guess we'll see you tomorrow then." Before I could reply they had already walked out of the room.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate your parents?" Riley asked, I looked over at him smiling slightly with my eyebrows raised.

"No, I don't think you have," I replied.

"Well in my eyes they're more evil than Voldermort," He answered still glaring at the spot they had been standing in. I burst out laughing and put my head against his shoulder. He joined in with the laughter but stopped when his Mum walked back in the room and gave us a questioning look.

"You two are so weird... I have all your stuff here, the nurse said it was fine for you all to stay as long as Emma rests and you don't disturb the other patients."

A few minutes later the others walked back in carrying a few shopping bags. "Emma-bear, we knew you needed clothes for spring break, so you're very welcome," Thomas said handing me two bags. I looked down at them nervously not knowing what to expect when I opened them.

"We've know you for years Em's, you think we don't know what type of clothes you like," Connor argued rolling his eyes at me. I smiled and looked in the bag and saw they'd bought me nearly everything that I would need for when we left on the weekend, a swimsuit, shorts, t-shirts and flip flops and few other things.

"Thank you guys, I love you all," I said smiling while holding my arms open for a group hug. They all laughed and hugged me quickly before looking for their stuff in the bag Mrs. M had brought. I grabbed my pyjamas that were there are walked towards the bathroom that was connected to the room. After I had changed my bottoms, I struggled to get my top off without brushing my stitches making it sting. I pulled my top back down and opened the door "Braiden...can you help me change my top please?"

"What! Why Me? I'm your brother," He augured as the others laughed at him.

"Okay...Well if you don't, Riley's going to have to help me," I replied watching his face change in realisation. He stood up and pushed Riley to the other side of the room before walking towards me. I swapped an amused look with the others before I closed the door behind him.

He quickly helped me change before helping me gather the clothes that were covered in blood to put in a bag. I sat back down on the bed and watched the four of them as the fussed and augured about whose turn it was to go in the bathroom.

When they were finally done Braiden, Connor and Thomas all sat on a bed that had been brought in for them while Riley sat next to me on my bed. They had brought in a guitar from the car so Braiden was currently playing it while Connor and Riley sang and Thomas used two water bottles as drum sticks.

While they were attempting to play Three Words with just one guitar, I leaned more into Riley and closed my eyes smiling as they carried on playing.

...


	15. Spring Break  Part 1

A buzzing from my phone woke me up. I groaned and reached over and grabbed my phone, I groaned even more when I opened my eyes. "Hello."

"This is your wakeup call madam," A posh voice answered. I laughed and laid back down onto my pillow.

"Why thank you kind sir," I replied, Riley laughed losing the seriousness of the situation. "How are you this cheerful at this time in the morning?"

"Well...I'm talking to you," I buried my head in my pillow to stifle my girlish giggle at his answer. "Well, I better let you go Thomas is picking everyone up in an hour and I know you're like a zombie in the morning."

"Okay, thanks for making sure I was awake," I replied smiling.

"Anytime beautiful, okay I love you, bye," He replied.

"Love you too." After I hung up I laughed and walked out of the room to Braiden's door. I knocked a few times. "B, are you up?" I shouted quietly trying to not wake my parents up.

He opened the door and gave me a tired smile. "I am now, thanks." I laughed and walked back to my room. I quickly got changed into shorts and a flannel shirt and did my hair in a side plait to avoid it being over the left side of my head which was still a bit sore.

My stitches were finally gone after having them in after my accident almost a week ago. The guys had been over here every single day since then making sure I didn't injure myself again. They even took shifts so I was always with someone, I found it sweet. They normally tried to hide how protective they were of me and this was the only time it's come across strongly.

When I was ready I grabbed my backpack and went downstairs, luckily I had packed last night so I didn't have to rush this morning. After I made breakfast and made something for Braiden before walking back upstairs to my room. Braiden was rushing out of the bathroom when I got there. "I made food for you; it's on the kitchen table."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" He asked giving me a grateful smile before running downstairs. I shook my head laughing and went into my room to grab my guitar and book.

I couldn't wait to be with the guys alone again, I know it sounds cheesy but they meant everything to me. Riley had been the basically the only friend I had in school, I had known him for a long time seen as we were the same age, he always chose to spend time with me rather than his other friends. Thomas welcomed me into his family the second he met me. Even though he always made fun of me he always looked after me the most, whenever I need something he's the first one to help me in any way. Connor treated me like the baby sister he never had, he'll somehow manage to make fun of me but reassure me about something at the same time. Even when he's saying something sarcastic I know in Connor language there's a nice comment hidden somewhere in there. And Braiden...well he's Braiden, without him I wouldn't be who I was today, I would have gone insane.

I wrote down a few ideas before starting to play what felt natural.

_Friday night beneath the stars  
>In a field behind your yard<br>You and I are painting pictures in the sky  
>Sometimes we don't say a thing<br>Just listen to the crickets sing  
>Everything I need is right here by my side<em>

_And I know everything about you  
>I don't wanna live without you<em>

_I'm only up when you're not down  
>Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground<br>It's like no matter what I do  
>Well, you drive me crazy half the time<br>The other half I'm only trying  
>To let you know that what I feel is true<br>And I'm only me when I'm with you_

_Just a small-town boy and girl  
>Living in the crazy world<br>Trying to figure out what is and isn't true  
>And I don't try to hide my tears<br>My secrets or my deepest fears  
>Through it all nobody gets me like you do<em>

_And you know everything about me  
>You say that you can't live without me<em>

_I'm only up when you're not down  
>Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground<br>It's like no matter what I do  
>Well, you drive me crazy half the time<br>The other half I'm only trying  
>To let you know that what I feel is true<br>And I'm only me when I'm with you_

_When I'm with anybody else  
>It's so hard to be myself<br>And only you can tell_

_That I'm only up when you're not down  
>Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground<br>It's like no matter what I do  
>Well, you drive me crazy half the time<br>The other half I'm only trying  
>To let you know that what I feel is true<br>And I'm only me, who I wanna be  
>Well, I'm only me when I'm with you,<br>with you,  
>uh huh uh, yeah<em>

"Did you write that song?" A voice asked. I jumped up in fright and fell off my seat on the windowsill; I sat up quickly and saw my Mother standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes.

"Umm, yes?" I replied hesitantly. I watched as she nodded and walked over to sit on my bed before patting the space next to her.

"I know you think I'm a bad Mother but I only want what's best for you and your Brother. We work a job that consists us of being away for weeks every few months and there is nothing I can say to make up for that. I didn't even fully realise how much this was affecting this family until the meal and your accident," She explained, I kept quiet and stared at the floor carefully watching her from the corner of my eye. "I deserve the award for worst parent ever! I haven't even seen Braiden's band perform and I didn't even know you shared his talent in music. I can't promise to be a better Mother, but I just want you to know how truly sorry I am."

I smiled and hugged her quickly before pulling away. "I forgive you Mum. But you need to see Before You Exit! The next time they have a gig and your home, promise me you'll go to see Braiden, he's beyond amazing Mum."

"I promise I will honey," she replied kissing my cheek. I watched her walk out the door and raised my eyebrows when Braiden walked in from the opposite direction.

"That was...something," He commented looking proud.

"You were eavesdropping? Shameful!" I replied smiling cockily at him.

He rolled his eyes slightly before turning to leave. "Good song by the way. The guys will love it when they force you to play it." I laughed and followed him downstairs quickly before stopping at the bottom step.

"Wait...that was a joke right? Right?" I shouted after him before running to him. He smiled in response before walking over to hug our parents.

"Well, have fun, be responsible, look after your baby sister," Mum told him as my Dad gave me a short awkward hug.

"I will don't worry, but there will be three other guys watching out for her as well so I can have breaks."

"You're so funny," I told him as I pulled out of Mum's hug.

There was a horn beeped from the front of the house, I swapped a look with Braiden before grabbing my bag and shouting another goodbye. I walked out of the door after him and followed him to the car. Braiden took my bag off me to put in the back of the car while I got in and sat next to Connor who was sitting there. "Greetings," Connor said as Braiden closed the door and sat next to me.

"W'sup," Braiden replied, I looked at him weirdly before returning the smile of greeting that I was getting from Riley.

"How's your head Emma-Bear?" Thomas asked from the driver seat.

"Fine thank you Tommy-Bear, nice hair cut."

"Yeah, your newly shaved head," Riley commented.

"Good thing you did that in summer and not winter," Connor said.

"So, how long of a drive is it going to be?" Braiden asked.

"About an hour and a half," Connor replied resting his head against the window.

I blacked out and rested my feet in the middle of Riley and Thomas' seats when they all started to talk about what we were going to do when we got there. Thomas jokingly shoved my foot to other side before smiling at me. When we went around a corner my feet slipped and nearly got stuck in the small gap, before they could slide in the whole way Riley put his arm to balance on my legs keeping them in the same position.

I started to feel tired so I leaned my head against Connor's shoulder seen as he was the closest to me. I always felt sleepy in cars so I knew I'd have no trouble falling back to sleep now.

...

"Emma, wake up," I shot up and hit my head on something hard, a groan came from beside me. I looked up and saw Connor holding his head in his hand. "The one time I wake you up nicely and you head but me!"

"Sorry," I mumbled and got out of the car after him. I walked to the back of the car and took my bag off Thomas and helped the others get their stuff out.

I looked up and saw the hotel we were staying in was right next to the beach which was already full of people. "Okay, let's go check in," Thomas commented while he locked his car. We all walked in a queued at the reception desk, when it was our turn Connor stepped forward and signed us in.

"Okay guys were in room 116, let's go!" We all quickly followed him up the stairs and into our room, when we walked in; I looked at the others confused when there was only two single beds in there.

"Umm, Connor, how are we all going to sleep in here?" I hesitantly asked, I half expected him to say me and Riley would be sleeping on the floor.

He smiled at me before walking over and opening one of the doors, "Ta-Da," I walked in a saw it was a conjoined room that looked exactly the same as the other room. "Okay, room arrangements. Riley and Emma, you two are in there so we can have peace and do grownup things. Should the three of us stay in here or does one person want to go in with them?"

"Three of us in here..." Braiden replied hesitantly giving me a suspicious look. I gave him an innocent smile before walking in the room behind Riley.

"Behave you two. And be ready in half an hour to go to the beach," Thomas shouted over his shoulder.

"Of course we get the crap room," Riley commented seeing the bathroom door hanging off the screws slightly. I sighed and sat down on the free bed. I screamed slightly when the bed fell underneath me into pieces. "Oh God! Are you okay Em's?" Riley rushed over and helped me stand up.

I looked back down at the bed in shock before laughing slightly. "Shallow Hal moment," I replied jokingly. He laughed before turning to look at the door which was opening.

"What did you break?" Thomas asked suspiciously. Before we could answer he saw the bed and started laughing. "Never mind."

"We should get changed," I said, Riley nodded before grabbing his bag. We did what we normally do and faced the other way to change. I put my bikini on and grabbed a towel to put around me... I hated wearing one but I knew people would look at me weirdly if I was the only one on the beach wearing clothes in the water.

"You done?" Riley asked throwing his bag onto the floor. I quickly pulled the towel around me before turning around. I gave him a smile before stopping myself from checking him out seen as he was shirtless. "Have you got sun cream?" I nodded and handed him the bottle I'd brought with me. I watched him from the corner of my eye and waited for him to finish, I laughed when I saw him struggling to do his neck and back. I walked over and did it for him before starting to put on me.

"Need help?" I nodded and handed him the bottle before turning so he could put it on my back.

"Let's go see what the idiots are doing," I said when we were both done; he laughed and gave me a quick kiss before leading me to the other room.

When we walked in we saw them throwing grapes at the wall and trying to catch them in they're mouths. Connor threw one at the wall and opened his mouth but burst out laughing when it went to the opposite side of the room.

Riley burst out laughing, Connor turned and glared at him slightly. "Like you can do better."

"Let me try, throw one at the wall for me," Riley replied getting cocky. Connor gave him a smug look before throwing one at the grapes at the wall, Riley somehow managed to catch it in his mouth and turned to give Connor a smug look while he stood there in shock.

"Do it again!" Braiden shouted. I laughed and went to sit next to him on his bed and handed him the bottle of sun-cream.

After watching Riley catch nearly a whole bagful of grapes one by one in his mouth it still didn't get boring. "We need to get this on film!" Connor shouted. "Alright, were hanging out, in this place, no what's this place? What's this room called?"

"The beach," Riley replied slightly serious.

"The beach? No were in room 116, we've got some grapes here and a wall there. Ready? Slow motion." After Riley caught the last grape we all headed down to the beach.

"Let's go!" Thomas shouted rushing out of the room.

When we got down to the beach I kept my towel around me while the guys wrote 'BYE Spring Break 10' in the sand while they look turns to film it. "That looks awesome!" Riley shouted.

"Okay, let's find a spot," Braiden shouted over walking towards a free spot to put his towel down. The others put their towels down while I automatically tightened mine around myself.

"You coming Emma?" Connor asked starting to walk towards the sea with the others.

"Yeah," I replied weakly before putting my towel at the end and following them. I cringed slightly when I saw a group of boys looking my way, I weren't used to boys other than the ones I'm around constantly even paying attention to me. The others except Riley were already halfway across the beach while Riley was glaring at the group of boys I had noticed earlier.

He walked over and pulled me into a hug while kissing my forehead, "Stop looking so conscious, you're more beautiful than every single girl here put together."

"Thank you," I replied quietly. "You look pretty darn good yourself." He laughed before leaning in to kiss me. I closed my eyes and waited for the kiss but burst out laughing when he picked me up and started running towards the others.

"Ah it's cold!" Riley shouted as we reached the water. I hold on tighter to his neck and laughed at his reaction. "Oh, you think it's funny do you?" He kneeled down slightly grinning at me.

"No don't!" I argued.

"Give me on reason why not to," He replied smugly.

"Because you love me," I replied cheekily. He smiled at before diving into the water with me still holding on. When we resurfaced I held onto him tighter. "That was freaking cold!"

"I told you that ten seconds ago and you laughed at me," he replied before swimming us over to the others who were having a water fight.

...

A few hours later we were finally walked back towards the hotel, when we got back in the room Thomas rushed in the toilet in the other room while me and Riley walked to our room...was it bad that I liked the sound of that? "Okay, we'll go out for dinner in about an hour if you all want," Connor commented while we all nodded.

"I need to shower," I moaned feeling dirty after being on the beach for so long.

"Me too, we could save water and shower together," He replied winking at me. I got a spur of confidence and grabbed his hand to pull him towards the shower. "Really?" he asked in an exited voice. I laughed at him and nodded.

...

After showering and changing we both laid down on the bed that hadn't broken. Riley was on twitter replying to people while read a book that I had brought with me. "You two look like an old married couple," Braiden commented from the doorway. We looked up at him before getting off the bed and following.

After we had finished eating we walked back to the hotel the long way by walking back on the beach. "Ohh, look at them birds!" Thomas shouted before running towards the flock of birds near us, they all flew away, "Come back! Take me with you!"

"Thomas, the only thing them pigeons are going to do is crap on you!" Connor shouted over to him laughing.

"That would be so funny if I actually happened," Riley said while Braiden and I nodded.

"Race you guys back to the hotel," Thomas shouted over before running off. We all swapped a look before quickly following him; I caught up with them all and gave the employee at the reception desk an apologetic smile for their behaviour before following them upstairs.

I ran around the corner just in time to see Connor closing it, I moaned and knocked on the door. "Don't be mean, just open the door." I heard stifled laughter coming from the other side; I smiled and rolled my eyes at them. "Okay, I'll just sleep out here and risk getting raped or kidnapped." The laughing suddenly stopped and the door opened showing four serious faces.

"That is not a matter to joke about Emma," Braiden scolded pulling me in the room before closing the door.

"I was just stating a fact..."

"Well...I'm tired I'm going to sleep," Braiden said changing the subject. Before I could even blink me and Riley were being shoved in the other room and door was closed.

"Goodnight to you too," I mumbled before grabbing my pyjamas, I turned to Riley who was smiling at me. "What?"

"Nothing," He replied still smiling at me, I nodded slightly before changing. After I had been in the bathroom I got into the bed next to him. I grabbed his arm and laughed slightly when he almost fell off the bed while he was trying to make more room for me. I moved closer so he would have more room but I was basically on top of him because the bed was so small.

"Night Ri," I mumbled kissing his neck seen as it was the only thing I could from my awkward position.

"Night Em," He replied kissing my forehead.

...

The next day we stayed at the beach for a few more hours before heading back to the hotel.

"I don't want to drive back in the dark so can we leave early?" Thomas asked when we reached the hotel room.

"Sure, I think we just have to pack a few things and then were ready to go," Braiden replied. I nodded and went to put all of my things in my bag before sitting down to watch Riley put the last few things into his bag.

"Were ready when you guys are," Riley shouted when he saw I was done.

"Okay, Connor and Thomas have gone to check us out," Braiden shouted from the other room.

After five minutes we were walking back to the car ready to go home. "That weekend went by too quickly," Thomas moaned unlocking the car so we could put our stuff in.

"Yeah...But we get to go to Melbourne in a few days so it's another road trip!" Connor commented.

"Whoo," Braiden shouted out as he closed the door behind him.

...

"See you guys in two days!" Thomas said when we reached Connor and Riley's house.

"Yes you will, see you guys!" Connor replied getting out of the car.

"Bye," Riley said before quickly following him.

"Next stop the Wood residents," Thomas joked before driving down our street. "And here you are, see you guys."

"Bye dude," Braiden said tapping him on the shoulder before getting out of the car.

"Bye Tommy, drive safe!" I commented while grabbing my bag.

"Well you walk safe and try not to fall from here to the house."

"You're so funny." I waved once more before walking up to the front door.

"I'm so tired..." Braiden moaned before walking upstairs.

"Well you all did head bang basically the whole drive home." He turned and rolled his eyes while smiling at me before turning back to carry on walking nearly bumping into the door.

...


	16. Spring Break Part 2

The next day I ended up going with them to another house party seen as I had nothing better to do.

"What time are we leaving tomorrow?" Thomas asked handing us some drinks while they were having a break after playing.

"Elevenish..." Connor replied shrugging.

"You guys never get breaks," I commented joking.

"Yeah but we love what we do," Braiden replied sharing a smile with the others.

"Of course," Riley imputed in a high voice. We all turned to look at him in shock but burst out laughing when we saw him holding a balloon in his hand. The others quickly ran to get balloons while Riley turned to smile at me. "Hey beautiful." I burst out laughing in his face; he smiled slightly before pretending to look upset. "That's okay, laugh at me." His voice went back to normal halfway through; I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing.

"Oh, Riley's voice finally broke," Connor joked from the other side of the room, everyone laughed so I gave Riley hand a squeeze trying to stop myself from laughing.

"We should sing while on helium!" Thomas shouted, all of the guests laughed and cheered encouraging them to do it.

I sat as the four of them lined up all holding they're balloons with a serious look on their faces.

_I swear that you don't have to go,_

_ I thought we could wait for the fireworks,_

_ I thought we could wait for the snow, _

_To wash over Georgia and kill the hurt, I thought I could- _

By that point Connor and Thomas had used up all of the helium from they're balloon, Riley shouted out before Braiden started to sing _'Peanut butter jelly time'_. The others quickly joined in and did a stupid dance, everyone laughed at them.

When they had finally calmed down and said goodbye to all of the fans we headed back out to Braiden's car. "That was so fun!" Connor shouted when we got into the car.

"So were playing our usual acoustic set list for the gig on the weekend right?" Braiden asked ignoring his comment.

"Yes we are ," Thomas replied glancing back at him. I looked out the window and stopped listening to them talk.

"Emma," Riley commented flicking my head.

"Huh?" I replied looking at him quickly. He laughed slightly.

"I said, can you help me on some of my school-work when we get back from the trip?"

"Sure!" I replied smiling at him. He smiled back before resting his head on my shoulder. I jokingly pinched his cheeks before resting my head against his.

...

The next morning I carried my small suitcase downstairs and left it by the front door. Braiden looked up from his food and smiled. "The McDonough's are picking us up in ten minutes to take us to the parking lot where were meeting Thomas."

"Okay," I replied before eating breakfast quickly. When I had finished eating my phone buzzed.

"Riley just text saying they're on the way," I shouted to Braiden before walking to sit down and put my shoes on. Braiden quickly opened the door and pushed me out nearly making me fall over. Connor got out of the car and helped us put our bags into the trunk before getting back in the car.

"Hi Mrs.M," Me and Braiden said at the same time, we looked at each quickly before looking back at her.

"Hello you two," She replied before reminding Connor to be careful. Riley wrapped his arm around my shoulder before turning back to listen to his Mum. When we got to the parking lot Thomas wasn't there.

"Typical. See Mum, I told you we didn't need to leave early," Connor moaned. She laughed in response.

"Well, we need to get food from the supermarket, so why don't we just get it now?" Riley suggested. Connor and Braiden swapped a look before nodding.

"Want us to get anything for you Mrs. M?"Braiden asked opening his door.

"No thank you dear," She replied before getting out her phone.

We all rushed into the store and headed to the meal deal section. "We should get Thomas food as well," I commented while I was on my tip-toes trying to reach the sandwich I wanted.

"Yeah...we should," Braiden replied before grabbing Doritos, a drink and a sandwich for him.

While we were walking to the check out Riley took my food out of my hands. "What are you doing?" I asked him trying to get the food back.

"I'm buying it," He replied smiling.

"Okay... here's the money," I said trying to put the money in his free hand.

"No!" He replied laughing putting the money back in my jeans pocket.

"Aww, Riley's buying Emma's food," Connor teased "Can you buy mine too?"

"No, buy your own," Riley joked.

"Kitty has claws," Braiden commented making a scratching movement with his hand.

When he gave me my food back, I kissed his cheek. "Thank you," I said.

He pulled me into a one arm hug and kissed my temple. "You're very welcome."

"Thomas is finally here!" Connor shouted as we walked out of the store.

"Yes I am!" Thomas replied opening the trunk to his car.

"Thank you for driving us here Mrs. M," I said once all of our bags were out of the car.

"You're welcome, all of you be safe and enjoy!" She replied before walking to her car and driving off.

I followed Braiden and put my bag in the car before going to sit in the car next to him. "It's so messy in here," I commented looking around laughing. Braiden shook his head before looking out the window at the others.

"We are heading out to Melbourne," Connor started to say as I threw a piece of rubbish that was on the floor at Braiden. He jokingly screamed in shock before tickling me. "For an acoustic show tonight and we are staying at a hotel over there. Yeah, this is our trip to Melbourne." Connor closed to boot and got in the car.

"You turn so professional when the cameras on you," I told his as he sat next to me. He laughed and pushed me into Braiden before putting on his seatbelt.

Thomas started to drive with Riley next to him and me, Braiden and Connor in the back. All of us were laughing at Thomas who was already panicking. "Oh jeez, everyone hold on."

"You are not driving this car...It's unbelievable," Connor said shaking his head.

"No it's just...I'm so unorganised, I don't know where anything is right now," Thomas argued.

"Oh Goodness. This is not a good start," Thomas sighed as we stopped behind traffic.

"Thomas take a deep breath," Connor told him.

"I am, I'm fine."

"Tell that to the YouTube viewers," Connor leaned forward and put the camera in Thomas' face.

"I'm fine," Thomas repeated. I shared an amused look with Riley who was trying to stop himself from laughing. "It's a red light, so it's all good." I laughed quietly at him muttering to himself and continued to eat the food we had got. "Were in no more danger."

"Where's my sandwich?" Thomas asked turning around.

"We didn't get one," Connor told him.

"Give me my sandwich!"

"We didn't buy you one!"

"Then were sitting right here until I get a sandwich!"

"We didn't buy you one!"

"We only got you Doritos," Riley told him bringing them out of the bag.

Braiden sneakily got Thomas' sandwich and opened him window. I leaned back in my seat to make sure I wasn't in the way seen as Connor was recording him. "Please drop it out the window!" Connor said.

Thomas and Connor quietly argued about whether or not Braiden would actually drop it onto the road.

"I will go out and get it," Thomas said as he took off his seatbelt.

"He won't do it," Connor argued, Braiden laughed before dropping Thomas' sandwich out onto the road. "You did not!"

I held my breath as Thomas opened his door and grabbed the sandwich as a car was driving past. "It's green, green!" Connor shouted as the lights changed.

When Thomas was back in his seat Connor started joking about how Thomas would have jumped under a moving vehicle to get his sandwich but I blanked out and continued to eat.

Thomas then went to open the sunroof. "Knock on Wood!" Riley told him watching him attempt to open it. "Knock on Wood!" As Thomas opened it, leafs fell in and landed on them both. I laughed as Riley flicked his hair to try and get them all out. "It's because you didn't knock on Wood!"

"Guys, don't open the sunroof, leaves will come through," Connor said, I gave him a stupid look; he pocked his tongue out at me as a response.

"No! No! Stop!" Thomas shouted as Riley jokingly went to open the sunroof again. "Now sit there like good quiet children!"

...

When we finally arrived it was dark out and the hotel was covered in bright lights. "Finally, I can't feel my legs!" Braiden moaned.

"Well, it's going to be your arms next because we have to unload the car," I told him giving him a sympathetic smile.

Riley and Connor came back with a trolley for us to put our bags on. Once all of the bags were out, we started to walk into the hotel. I leaned against Riley as we waited to be checked in. "You look tired," he commented pushing my fringe out of my face.

"It was a long drive and I was stuck between Braiden who was blaring his music and Connor who poked me every five minutes," I complained. He laughed before putting his arm around me and walking us to the others who had started to follow an employee to our room.

I stayed in the back of the group with Thomas as we went to find the room; Connor suddenly started to laugh and turned to walk back to us. "He goes to the bathroom! He was supposed to be leading us to the way and he goes to the bathroom!"

After another five minutes we finally found the room. "Okay guys get ready, we need to go down to the hall where were playing in five minutes!" Connor shouted, chucking his bag on one of the beds.

I rushed into the bathroom before any of them could, after I had been to the toilet I sat on one of the beds and waited for them to finish. "Emma, do you mind carrying down some of my stuff?" Thomas asked. I jumped off the bed and took one of his bags and followed them all they all walked down to the hall where they were playing,

...

About an hour later we were walking back up to the room after they had played. When we got in the elevator, I laughed at them as the stood fascinated with the mirror on the ceiling.

"Really?" I asked when Connor pulled out his phone to film it, the others laughed before looking back at the ceiling.

"Hey, were hanging here in the elevator and were looking at the ceiling...hello," Connor said as the others laughed and waved while I tried to hide in the corner. "Oh, Emma's hiding!"

Once the doors opened I quickly pushed Connor out before he could do anything else. When we got back in the room we all took turns to use the bathroom before settling down on the beds to watch the TV. "Who wants to sleep on the pull out sofa today?" Thomas asked looking around.

"I will," I answered, Riley pouted so I smiled at him.

"You sure Em? You'll be away from Riley," Connor joked.

"Yeah, you guys invited me so I'm not going to take the bed," I replied picking up my blanket and lying down on the sofa. I screamed slightly and fell onto the floor when Thomas threw a pillow at me.

"Don't you dare think like that, we invite you because you're the fifth member of Before You Exit!" Thomas shouted while the others nodded.

"You could have just said that instead of making me fall over," I muttered getting back on the sofa.

"Sorry," Thomas guilty said.

...

"No, you open it that way!" I opened my eyes to see Thomas and Connor arguing about how to open the balcony doors.

"See I was right!" Connor shouted before walking out. I moaned before turning to see Braiden and Riley sitting up in their beds too.

"Seriously? It's eight in the morning!" Braiden moaned before throwing back the covers. I sat up and watched Riley walk over and sit by my feet.

"Can we kill them?" I asked while trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes.

"I'm already planning it..." He replied laughing tiredly. Braiden stumbled past us and walked onto the balcony. I could faintly hear him complaining about everyone being up early.

"Hey, when we get back home, why don't the two of us go out?" Riley asked pulling my feet onto his lap. I gave him a confused look. "We haven't been out just the two of us in ages... I think it was even before we started dating!"

I laughed before nodding. "I'd love that." He smiled back at me before turning to glare at the idiots who had walked back into the room.

"Were hungry!" Braiden explained before sitting on the small seat near us. I sat quietly eating a bowl of cereal while watching Braiden and Thomas swap cereal boxes.

"Yey!" Thomas said when he got which one he wanted from Braiden.

"It's eight in the morning, how are you this happy?" I asked Thomas confused. He smiled in response ruffling my bed hair before sitting down on one of the beds to eat.

...

When we were finally home, I was in my bedroom picking clothes for the next day. Me and Riley had decided tomorrow would be the best time to go out just the two of us seen as the others were busy. Riley see's me basically every day, so I didn't understand why I was getting so nervous about it.

My phone buzzed, I nearly had a heart attack seen as I was concentrating so much.

_I'll pick you up tomorrow at eleven! Hopefully I won't kill us driving :P xxx_

I laughed and replied to him before lying in my bed. He had finally passed his test last week after putting off for so long because of the tour. I hadn't been in the car with him yet but I suppose I would find out if he was a terrible driver tomorrow.

** ...**


	17. The Date

When I woke up I actually made an effort and did my hair and put some make up on. I looked in the mirror and cringed, I hope no one would comment on the fact that I had made an effort.

When I was done, I walked downstairs and Braiden started to laugh. "Why on earth do you look so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous," I muttered before sitting down on the table next to him.

"Yes you are... You and Riley hang out basically every day," he argued shaking his head.

"So, what are you doing today?" I asked changing the subject. He smirked before shaking his head.

"Me and Thomas are meeting up with some of our friends from school," he answered.

"Have fun with that," I replied before looking over at the clock, I still had five minutes before Riley was suppose to be here.

The doorbell rang, I got up quick and basically ran to the door, I could faintly hear Braiden laughing behind me. I groaned when I opened the door and saw Thomas standing on the other side.

"Nice to see you too Emma-bear," Thomas said sarcastically. "You look very nice, going out with your boyfriend?" he asked in a teasing voice. I rolled my eyes before walking back to sit down.

"You ready to leave then Braid's?" Thomas asked still in the doorway.

"Yes. Em, lock the door when you leave!" Braiden shouted over before closing the door.

A few minutes later there was another knock on the door, I walked calmly this time. I opened the door and laughed when I saw Riley standing there with flowers in his hand. "I know you don't like real flowers because of your allergies... So I got you fake ones." I smiled and kissed him quickly before taking the flowers off him. "I'll love you until each and every one dies... Too cheesy?"

"Very cheesy... But I'll love you until that day too." I joked before locking the front door. I took his hand and allowed him to lead me to the car. He opened the passenger side door and jokily bowed. "You look beautiful as always Miss Wood," I laughed and muttered a thank you before putting on my seatbelt.

"So, where are we going first?" I asked when he closed the door and put his seatbelt on. He turned and smiled at me before starting to drive.

For the first ten seconds I held onto my seat tight before letting go when I realised nothing was going to happen. "Did you really expect me to be so bad?" he asked shaking his head at me.

"Well in my defence, you've never let me come with you when you were practising, and no offence Riles... But you suck at driving games."

He laughed. "Speak for yourself. You're the only person I can beat! I dread to think what you're going to be like when you start to drive."

"I am going to be avoiding driving for as long as possible," I argued.

A few minutes later we pulled up at the cinema. I rolled eyes slightly; I should have known this was the first place we would go. I got out of the car and walked forward to take Riley's outstretched hand in mine.

"Okay, what movie do you want to see?" Riley asked while looking at the list of movies out. I read all of them before swapping a look with Riley.

"Harry Potter!" we both answered at the same time. I grinned before walking with him to buy the tickets.

"Let me pay as well!" I argued.

"Nope," Riley replied smirking.

"I refuse to let you pay for everything today, I want to buy you stuff too."

"Fine, if it pleases you, then you can pay for something," Riley answered rolling his eyes slightly.

"I'll buy the food, usual?" I asked, he nodded smiling slightly. I went and bought us popcorn and drinks before walking over to where he was standing waiting.

"Thank you," Riley said with a mouthful of popcorn as we started to walk into the theatre.

By the end of the movie my head was on Riley's chest and he had his arm around me. "That was sad," I mumbled as the credits started to roll.

"You started to cry the minute the movie started," Riley joked before standing up.

"You cried...slightly too," I argued.

"I cried when the characters started to die... Not when it showed the movie title!" we both laughed. I looked up at him from our position; I had my arm around his waist while his arm was still around my neck.

"What do you want to do next?" I asked him as we walked towards the car.

"Don't you worry your pretty little mind, I've got the hold day planned out," He replied looking proud of himself.

"Should I be worried?" I joked. He jokingly glared at me before starting to drive out of the parking lot. "So, what have you and the guys got planned for this week?"

"Well... Were doing that photo-shoot on Tuesday. You have to come, I can't cope on my own with them, they tag team on me," he pleaded. I laughed quietly.

"I'll go... They're not that bad are they?" The look he gave answered that question...

"Bowling?" I asked excitedly as we drove into the parking lot.

"Yep," he answered before getting out of the car. I laughed at myself slightly, I was so nervous for today and we were just doing the things we normally do.

"If Emma gets a strike, she will only lose by 20 points," Riley jokingly shouted over the music using his straw as a fake microphone.

"Shut up jerk," I laughed. I walked up to the line and threw the bowling ball. I managed to somehow get a strike; I did a fake happy dance.

"You still lost," Riley replied laughing.

"Yes, but that's the first strike I've gotten today," I replied.

"In that case, well done," he said before spinning me around. "Now, the serious business... What do I get for winning?" He made a weird movement with his eyebrows.

I pretended to look at him in concentration for a moment. "Pride?" he jokingly glared at me. "Hey, you beat your girlfriend/best friend without cheating, take the pride," I joked. He smiled before picking up our things.

"So what are we doing now?" I asked when we got back into the car. He laughed evilly; I rolled my eyes slightly before smiling.

"Well, we've done the things we normally do as best friends, so from now until the end of the date were actually going to act like we're dating," he replied turning to smile at me.

"Oh no, what are we doing?" I asked him pretending to be scared. He pocked his tongue out at me before turning back to look at the road.

Five minutes later we pulled up in a parking space near the beach. While I was still looking out at the water my door opened. I jumped in fright before turning to see Riley standing there trying not to laugh. He grabbed my hand and helped me out of the car before walking towards a restaurant that was on the bay.

When we got in the restaurant we went and sat in a booth in the corner. "It's really nice here, we should come here more often," Riley commented looking around the room.

"How did you even know about this place? I've never even noticed it before," I asked looking at the menu that was in-between us.

"Connor suggested it," he replied laughing slightly. I shook my head.

"At least he was nice and didn't suggest somewhere horrible," I joked.

"So, what do you want?"

"Umm, burger and chips."

"I'm going to have the same. Do you want to share a milkshake? I don't think my stomach can handle a whole one." We swapped a sickly look before laughing.

"I feel sick at the thought of it." I leaned back in my seat and stretched my legs out to rest in the middle of Riley's. He looked up and smiled before closing his legs so they we're wrapped around mine. Before either of us could make a joke about it or laugh, a waitress walked over to take our order.

By the time we had finished eating we were both sat quietly while holding our stomachs. "That was a lot of food," I moaned. Riley nodded slightly before trying to sit up.

"No... Moving makes me feel sick," he complained before staying still again.

"Well, you shouldn't have tried eating dessert even when you complained you were full."

"But the chocolate cake looked so tempting... And you ate some of it, so don't be a hypocrite!" I looked down at the table before laughing. "Okay, let's go before I throw up from the smell of the food here."

Five minutes later we were walking along the beach finally back to normal. "This is romantic in movies...but in reality all you get is sand in your shoes," I moaned.

Riley laughed slightly before sweeping me in his arms. "It's just the shoes you've got on, there's no sand in my shoes," He replied cockily.

"Good for you," I moaned resting my head against his shoulders. "Aren't your arms getting tired?"

"Nope, my exercise is carrying you all the time." I poked his cheek; he pretended to bite it before spinning around.

...

"Here we are Madam," Riley joked as we stood in front of my front door.

"Thank you for today Riles," I told him pulling him in for a hug.

"You're welcome," He replied before leaning in to kiss me.

About a minute later the front door opened to show a smirking Braiden and Thomas. "You've been making out long enough, get in before you catch a cold Emma-Bear," Thomas joked as Braiden laughed.

"I'll see you soon," Riley commented kissing my forehead before saying goodbye to the others.

"Remind your brother about our plans!" Braiden shouted over to Riley.

"See you guys," Thomas commented before running towards his car.

"How was the date?" Braiden asked looking smug.

"Good," I replied hitting his face lightly with the flowers Riley had bought.

"Your smile suggests that it was better," Braiden commented raising his eyebrows. I smiled before rushing off.

...


	18. Photo Shoot

"Hey superstar, you ready for your photo shoot?" I joked as I walked into the kitchen to see Braiden sitting alone.

Braiden jokily flicked his hair before turning to pose, "Hell yes!" I rolled my eyes before moving to sit next to him.

"What exactly is this photo-shoot for?" I asked before turning on my phone to see a good morning text from Riley.

"Honestly, not really sure," He replied sheepishly, "I daydreamed during the explanation."

"Thinking about a certain someone?" I asked winking at him. He blushed before turning around to carry on eating his food. I knew he still had a crush on one of his close friends Tayler, and lately they had become closer, I really hoped they would get together; they seemed perfect for each other.

"Shut up," Braiden mumbled before rushing out of the room with his phone.

...

"They're here!" Braiden shouted from the other room, I rushed out not wanting to keep them long. I locked the door behind us to see Braiden was already in half in the car. I rolled my eyes and sat in the spare seat behind Riley and next to Thomas.

"Hi," I mumbled over the light chatter.

"Morning Emma," Mrs. M replied as Riley leaned back so his head was between the two seats; I smiled at him and poked his nose lightly before turning to Connor who was trying to get my attention.

"Will you film again today?"

"Don't I always?" I asked rolling my eyes slightly.

"Well start, we need an intro," Connor joked pretending to be dramatic.

I took my camera out and passed it to Riley to give to Connor because I wouldn't be able to film any of them from my seat.

As he pointed the camera at Riley, I hid behind the seat not wanting to be in it.

"Right now, were heading out to a photo shoot," Riley explained as Thomas rested his foot on the seat by his head. "It should be fun, were heading out to a special location that involves water." Riley nodded awkwardly as he carried on filming.

"It's about to rain," Thomas informed as we all looked out of the window slightly annoyed.

"And who's on time today?" Connor asked changing the subject.

Braiden and Thomas both raised their hands. "Thomas, Braiden and Connor, they most unli-"

"Braiden!" Mr. M interrupted from his place next to Riley.

Thomas looked at the camera jokingly annoyed and made weird noises before Connor started to sing 'dun dun dunn'. I looked at Thomas confused who wasn't even looking in my direction.

"You can come out of hiding now Emma!" Mr. M laughed before I sat up normally smiling.

"One day you'll be in the video," Connor argued before turning around.

"No I won't," I replied resting my chin on the top of Riley's seat.

...

When we got there, I stole Riley's jacket as it had gotten cold and started to film the boys as they messed about.

"Come along, no time to waste," Connor joked after they had messed about by the car for five minutes.

"Is it a long walk?" I asked Riley quietly as I played with the end of my braid.

"I'll carry you if you get tired," Riley joked squeezing my cheeks. I glared at him slightly making him look concerned. He mumbled an apology before walking to the front with the others.

I moaned and tried to catch up with them holding my stomach hoping it would decrease the pains of my cramps which had started suddenly again.

Riley looked back at me concerned, he was probably scared at my mood change, they had all learnt by now not to annoy me when it was my time of the month but I still felt mean for upsetting Riley.

After what felt like miles of walking, were reached a small cafe next to a bridge. The boys all went to stand on the bridge while I stayed with Mrs. M who was talking to the people that were running today and Mr. M filmed the boys trying to get Connor do some dance but instead they all clapped and jumped around.

Mr. M eventually gave up and handed the camera back to me muttering about how hard it was to get them to do something.

I sat down on one of the tables outside waiting for everyone to start moving again when Riley sat opposite me and pushed a chocolate bar towards me. I smiled and opened it offering him half of it which he accepted.

"I'm sorry for glaring at you," I mumbled after quickly finishing my half.

He laughed slightly before shaking his head. "I don't even care about that, I was just worried about you, then Braiden may have mentioned to us not to do anything to annoy you unless we wanted to be drowned in the water today..." I looked at him horrified that they all thought I'd kill them. Riley shook with silent laughter, "Don't worry they understand, haven't you ever noticed we all tend to buy you more junk food and lay off on all the teasing when you start to..."

I laughed quietly when I finally realised they treated me differently the second I showed signs that it was my time of the month, "You guys..." I shook my head and stood up linking my arm with Riley before walking over to the others and smiling.

...

When we finally got to where their photo shoot would be, I looked around amazed at how nice it was.

I got the camera back out and started to film again.

"Were going in water in skinny jeans... That's going to be fun!" Connor said as he stood in front of me, I looked at him in pity before he started to jokingly cry. "It's going to be wet." I laughed before giving him a stupid look when I realised what he had said.

I went and sat all the edge of the water filming them as they got ready to go in as Mr and Mrs M stood behind laughing at their faces when they complained at how cold the water was.

I sat covering my mouth trying to stop myself from laughing at the noises they were making.

"It's slippery!" Thomas warned them as he started to walk more into the water nearly falling.

"The rocks are slippery?" Riley asked as he finally got enough confidence to go in the cold water.

"Its covered in moss," Thomas explained as someone floated past them in a ring boat making me snigger.

"Yey!" Connor replied sarcastically.

As they all swam about, I bit my lip watching Riley's clothes stick to him, he looked over and caught my gaze on him making him smirk and wink over before going back to copying the others.

My back started to hurt form sitting down so long so I got up and walked over to sit with Mrs M while Mr M was filming the boys.

"Hi Hun," she greeted as I sat down pulling Riley's jacket more around me.

"Hi."

"Feeling poorly today?" I nodded slightly embarrassed hoping not everyone had noticed. "At least Riley's looking after you."

"He always does," I replied quickly making a proud look appear on her face.

"That's my boy," She mumbled into her cup smiling. "I always hoped you two would end up together."

"Me too," I joked as Mr. M came back to sit down at the table.

"You do know, any-time you and Braiden don't want to be alone it that house, you're welcome at ours," she informed me making me smile.

"Yes, you two are family... maybe you'll be legally in our family one day," Mr. M joked.

I blushed as Mrs. M hit him on the arm before turning back to me. "As I was saying, you're always welcome, just give either us or the boys a ring, we even trust you enough to stay in Riley's room while Braiden can be in the guest room." She gave me a knowing look as I blushed slightly.

"Thank you."

"Do you two want to go back there and watch the idiots freeze?" Mr. M asked, we both nodded and followed him over to see the all gathered around the camera looking at the photos they'd already taken.

I looked on in pity as they were made to go under the water before jumping up but started to laugh when they all tried acting as cool as possible even though they looked as if they had just fallen out of the titanic.

After taking a few more photos they started to dance along with the photographer as Riley moved closer to us.

"Connor watch out there's a fish right there!" Thomas screeched as someone swam under the water right by him. "Look at this kid." They all looked in shock as the person carried on swimming under the water past them making Braiden nearly fall over after he tried to carry on dancing.

"Giant fish," Connor replied as Riley tried to stand up uneasily.

"Oh my god... oh that's a fly never mind," the photographer randomly said making everyone look at him.

...

When they were finally done, they gathered in a circle whispering looking over at me.

"You better run Emma, they look as if they're planning on pulling you in," Mr. M warned.

I glanced over at them shaking my head pleading with them.

Riley rushed over before them, "Take your shoes and socks off," he demanded grinning from ear to ear.

"Rile, I can't go in," I begged trying to remind him of my state.

"Trust me!"

I did as he told me, and allowed him to pull me to sit on his shoulders with only my feet and the bottom of my legs in the water as he walked back over to the others. I gripped Riley's hair silently begging him not to fall.

"Emma's here!" They all screamed making me roll my eyes and smile.

After a few minutes they got carried away splashing each other again and water headed towards Riley's face, I could slowly feel him loose his balance and could feel him trying to still hold me above the water but I went under anyway.

Riley quickly picked me and held me up as the others held onto each other and laughed. I tried to laugh along but I was silently panicking knowing I didn't have much time before I would die of embarrassment.

"Emma, are you okay?" Braiden questioned as he stopped laughing.

"Uhh... yeah, I need to ge-" They all nodded awkwardly finally understanding as Riley picked me up and carried me out quickly.

"Thanks," I mumbled awkwardly as he carried me while grabbing my bag.

"It's what I'm here for," He joked as we passed his parents who gave me sympathetic smiles; I hope they only think I was cold.

Once we got to the toilets, I grabbed my bag and quickly rushed in and changed, luckily I had brought spare clothes.

I walked out putting Riley's jacket back on which I'd luckily taken off before they pulled me into the water. "Go and change," I demanded when I saw Riley was waiting for me still in his wet clothes and shivering. He nodded and quickly waddled off.

Braiden walked up to me dressed in dry clothes looking shameful, "Sorry, I should have stopped them."

I hugged him laughing before walking off towards the others hoping it wouldn't be mentioned.

Connor and Thomas both rubbed my wet hair before going back to their conversation as we waited to leave.

"Well, that was an eventful day," Connor commented as we all got into the car making me roll my eyes.

...


	19. House Party

"Mum and Dad gone again?" I asked Braiden as I walked downstairs to see him along with the others. Riley got up and pulled me into a quick hug and kiss on the forehead before going back to sit down.

"Yeah, they left early this morning," Braiden replied half not paying attention, I rolled my eyes slightly before walking over to sit next to Riley.

"So we're staying over here!" Thomas shouted over excitedly, I smiled over at him.

"But first me and Thomas are going over to his house to sort out his new drum kit," Connor commented as Thomas jumped up and down in his seat.

"And I'm going to meet Tayler," Braiden commented quietly.

"Man up and tell her you like her already," I mumbled smiling at him; he turned and glared at me making me lean into Riley.

"Just us two then," Riley commented squeezing my shoulder.

Connor and Braiden both laughed. "Catch up on your school-work," Connor demanded making us both swap an annoyed look.

...

Ten minutes later they were all gone and Riley and I were sitting on the kitchen table with all our school work in front of us.

I groaned and looked over at Riley. "What did you get for number five?"

He looked up briefly before looking back down. "Three." I nodded and mumbled thanks before writing down the answer.

"Why do we even need this? When in my life am I going to need how to work out what X is?" Riley moaned throwing his pen on the table before stretching.

"It's just to make us suffer," I replied before putting my head on the table.

"Come on, we'll work together and get this done quickly," Riley said patting my shoulder before picking his pen back up.

...

Half an hour later we were finished and clearing up. I looked up to see Riley smiling at me suspiciously.

"What?" I asked glancing behind me to see if he was looking at something behind me.

"Well we're alone... so can you play me another song you wrote?" I sighed and looked down. "Please! I sing for you all the time!"

I laughed slightly. "You just want to hear more songs about you," I joked.

"All the songs I sing are about you, return the favour!" he joked.

"I'll go get my guitar," I replied while dragging my feet upstairs. I turned slightly to see him doing a happy dance.

I grabbed my guitar and went to sit next to him on the sofa. I jokingly glared at him before starting to play.

_We were both young when I first saw you  
>I close my eyes<br>And the flashback starts  
>I'm standing there<br>On a balcony in summer air_

_See the lights_  
><em>See the party, the ball gowns<em>  
><em>See you make your way through the crowd<em>  
><em>And say hello, little did I know<em>

_That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles_  
><em>And my daddy said stay away from Juliet<em>  
><em>And I was crying on the staircase<em>  
><em>Begging you please don't go, and I said<em>

_Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone_  
><em>I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run<em>  
><em>You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess<em>  
><em>It's a love story baby just say yes<em>

_So I sneak out to the garden to see you_  
><em>We keep quiet cause we're dead if they knew<em>  
><em>So close your eyes<em>  
><em>Escape this town for a little while<em>

_Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter_  
><em>And my daddy said stay away from Juliet<em>  
><em>But you were everything to me<em>  
><em>I was begging you please don't go and I said<em>

_Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone_  
><em>I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run<em>  
><em>You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess<em>  
><em>It's a love story baby just say yes<em>

_Romeo save me, they're tryin to tell me how to feel_  
><em>This love is difficult, but it's real<em>  
><em>Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess<em>  
><em>It's a love story baby just say yes<em>

_Oh oh_

_I got tired of waiting_  
><em>Wondering if you were ever coming around<em>  
><em>My faith in you was fading<em>  
><em>When I met you on the outskirts of town, and I said<em>

_Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone_  
><em>I keep waiting for you but you never come<em>  
><em>Is this in my head? I don't know what to think<em>  
><em>He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said<em>

_Marry me Juliet_  
><em>You'll never have to be alone<em>  
><em>I love you and that's all I really know<em>  
><em>I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress<em>  
><em>It's a love story baby just say yes<em>

_Oh, oh,_

_Oh, oh  
>Cause we were both young when I first saw you...<em>

"That was amazing!" Riley shouted tackling me making me drop my guitar to the floor.

I laughed before patting his back slightly. "Uhh, thanks?"

Riley smiled down at me before pulling me into a kiss. Just as we started to get heated, the door banged open making us look up in shock.

Thomas, Connor, Braiden and Tayler all stood there staring at us.

"It's not how it looks," Riley tried to explain as I pointed at the guitar.

"We don't want to know or see that!" Braiden replied as he tried to cover his eyes.

I sat up awkwardly finally remembering one of my hands were in Riley's back pocket and his hands were under my shirt making it look extremely inappropriate.

"Up!" Connor demanded sitting in-between us.

"We weren't..." I mumbled. Connor laughed before pushing me slightly making me fall off the sofa.

I stood up and glared at Connor who was laughing. I rushed over and hugged Tayler happy to have another girl here.

"Hey hun," she said keeping her arm around my shoulders as Braiden smiled at us both from across the room.

"So, this little get together..." Thomas commented from the corner.

"Huh?" I quietly asked Tayler.

"We've invited a few people... and got some alcohol," Braiden replied sheepishly.

"Braiden, I did not think you were the type to throw a party while your parents were away," Riley commented in shock.

"I got peer pressured," he replied as the boys laughed.

"I'm still in shock that he's going through with this..." Tayler whispered to me.

"How many people have they invited exactly?" I nervously asked.

"I don't even want to know," she replied shaking her head.

"Well, we should probably move anything that could get broken..." I commented a bit louder still in shock.

"We'll start in the kitchen," Tayler replied pulling me with her.

...

An hour later I was in my room trying to hide anything I didn't want anyone to see if they stumbled in my room.

Riley walked in and sat on my bed watching me fuss about. "Why are you so nervous?"

"I don't want me or Braiden to get into trouble..."

"You won't!" He replied, "Well... I don't think so."

"Since when are they even the type to throw parties?"

"Since now apparently..." I sat down next to him and started to bite my nails. "Hey, if you don't feel comfortable just tell me and we can leave!"

I nodded before walking over and changing into a vest top to go with my skinny jeans. I turned around to look at Riley who was watching me, "Do I look alright?" I asked nervously seeing my bra was on show, he bit his lip and nodded.

"Okay," I replied pushing my fringe out of my face. Music suddenly turned on downstairs making me groan.

"Come along dear," Riley said while jumping off the bed and picked up and threw me over his shoulder before running downstairs.

He put me down as we got downstairs to see the house filled with people already drunk. Riley quickly ran over and hi-fived someone I didn't know, I sighed and walked into the kitchen and grabbed a drink before walking to try and find someone. I could briefly see Riley with Connor talking to some girl I didn't know and Thomas jumping on the sofa shouting about being excited or something.

I bumped into someone making me spill half of my drink. "I'm sorry."

"I'm the one who should be sorry," the guy said, I smiled awkwardly and tried to walk away. "Hey, you're Braiden's little sister right?"

"Uhh... Yes."

"My, my, you sure have grown up a lot since I last saw you..." I looked at him confused trying to figure out who he was. "I'm Jack! I used to be in school with your Brother?" he explained.

"Oh right... yeah I remember you," I replied glancing around the room for help, I remember Braiden talking about him and none of the stories were nice.

"Here, I'm sorry for bumping into you, Ill get you another drink! What are you drinking?" He asked with a smile.

"Umm, coca-cola..." He gave me a funny look before laughing and walking into the kitchen.

I looked around the room and saw Braiden and Tayler getting cosy in the corner of the room making me smile, before I could look for anyone else I knew Jack was back.

"Here you go, one coca-cola!"

"Thanks" I replied drinking it down quickly hoping I could use the excuse of needing another drink to leave.

I cringed and coughed at the taste of the drink almost throwing up as I finished the cupful. "What?" I stumbled slightly and held onto the wall for support.

"Wow. Are you okay?" Jack asked putting his arm around me; I tried to push him off but ended up almost falling over.

"What's going on here?" a voice almost shouted from behind me.

"Hey kid, mind your own business and go and find some soda!" Jack replied pulling me more into him making me stumble.

"It is my business because she's my girlfriend."

Jack let me go making me fall straight to the floor before he walked off. "Riley?"I mumbled as arms wrapped around me lifting me from the floor.

"Yeah it's me," He replied sounding slightly annoyed. "What the hell did you drink?" I motioned to the empty cup I was holding loosely. He took it out of my hand trying to figure out what had been in it.

"Emma sweetie, are you okay?" Tayler walked over still obviously sober and looking worried with Braiden quickly following her.

"I think that Jack guy put something in her drink..." Riley told them quietly.

"Emma, look at me," I looked up and saw Braiden moving about.

"Stay still," I mumbled looking back at the floor.

"Take her outside for some air," Tayler suggested and Braiden stormed off somewhere.

Riley pulled me tighter against him and helped me walk through the house and into the back garden. I stumbled over a rock and almost hit my head, "God Emma!" I almost started to cry hearing him so mad at me. I sat down on the bench in the garden and held onto it for support.

"What the hell were you thinking taking a drink off him?" Riley half-shouted. I glanced at him briefly before turning my head and throwing up behind me. I heard Riley sigh before pulling my hair out of the way.

...

I woke up and glanced around unsure of where I was or when I even passed out. I saw I was in my bed with the party still going on downstairs and Riley sitting on the floor with his phone in his hands.

"Ri?" I asked quietly hoping I was imaging that he had been mad.

He glanced back at me before handing me a glass of water that was by his feet. I sat up and gulped down the water before shyly looking at him. "Are you mad?"

"What do you think?" I looked over and saw it was two thirty in the morning and groaned. "Why did you take the drink off him?" He asked as he stood up angrily.

"I'm sorry but I didn't really think something would be in my drink..."

"That's your problem, you don't think! You just do these things not realising how stupid they are!" I started to cry in shock as he carried on shouting at me, he had never been this mad with me. "What if I hadn't seen him with you? Huh! He could have ended up raping you or something! You're so stupid!"

"I'm stupid, I get it!" I screamed back as I stood up.

"Why were you with him in the first place?"

"I bumped into him and he spilt my drink so he offered to get me another one, so I'm sorry if I didn't except him to put something in my drink!"

"So you did the whole flirting 'whoops I spilt my drink' thing!" He replied sarcastically.

"You think I would do that to you?" I screeched making him take a step back in shock. "The whole flirting thing is your deal not mine!"

"What?"

"It's only a matter of time before you leave me for someone better anyway..." I mumbled before storming. I walked down the stairs and past all of the drunk guests to the front door. I carried on walking down the street not knowing where I was going trying to brush the tears from my face.

"Emma!" Riley almost tackled me but managed to catch me before I hit the ground.

"What?" I croaked out.

"I'm sorry okay? But you don't realise what was going through my head when I saw you with him. At first... I thought you were going to cheat on me because why would you want to be a band guy who everyone thinks is gay. Then I realised you were half passed out and I wanted to punch him but Braiden stopped me. Look, I'm sorry I took it out on you, but I can't bare the thought of anything happening to you!"

"I've loved you since the first day I met you and you think I would cheat on you?" I asked quietly.

"I could ask you the same thing... why didn't you even tell me... I don't flirt with other girls, you're the only one I have eyes for," He replied pulling me into a hug. "I'm never going to leave you."

I cried more and fell into him. "I still don't feel well," I admitted quietly. Riley kissing my forehead before picking me up and carrying me back to the house.

"Tayler had to stop Braiden from beating him up, but he threw him out of this house," Riley explained before we got back inside.

He laid me down and came down next to me before pulling me in his arms.

"That's the first time we've had an argument since we started dating," I said quietly.

He laughed before starting to play with my hair, "And it won't be the last."

...


	20. Holy Ground

When I woke up the next morning, I smiled at Riley who was still sleeping and got out of the bed quietly trying not to wake him up.

Downstairs was a mess and Braiden, Tayler, Thomas and Connor were all passed out in different places of the room. I rolled my eyes at them and went in the kitchen to get bags for the rubbish and started to clear up.

By the time they had all woken up, I had cleaned the majority of the mess. "Emma, you didn't have to clean everything!" Braiden moaned as he picked up one of the empty bags and started to help me.

"Well, you were all unconscious, so..." I smiled at him briefly before walking to the other room to clean.

"You feeling okay now?" Connor asked as he came and took the last rubbish bag out of my hand, I nodded briefly before looking away not really wanting to talk about it. "What about you and Riley? I heard you both arguing..."

"We're fine!" I moaned, he walked away quickly making me feel guilty.

When I saw everything was cleaned and tidy, I walked upstairs to get in the shower and change. "See you guys later!" Thomas shouted excitedly from behind me.

After my shower, I changed into joggers and a hoodie before walking back into my room to find Tayler sitting on my bed smiling.

"I figured we could have some girl time!"

"Girl time?" I asked confused. She shot me a sympathetic smile before walking over to the stereo to put on some music.

"Yeah, you know gossiping and getting all dressed up?" She replied smiling brightly at me.

As much as I wanted to say 'no', I nodded and smiled at her. She was making the effort now that her and Braiden were getting closer and I really liked her for that.

An hour later, I was changed into my gray skinny jeans, a back vest top, a blue flannel shirt and my black vans with my hair and make-up done by Tayler.

"Okay, can you tell me what's going on now?" I asked her as she dragged me through the empty house and into her car.

"Nope," She answered shooting me an evil smile. "So, let's talk about you and Riley."

"If you talk about you and my brother."

"Okay then, he asked me out yesterday." I looked at her shocked not excepting her to answer me.

"About time..." she simply laughed before nodding for me to talk.

"Were Emma and Riley..."

"I want more dish than that!"

"Well, what do you want me to say?" I asked making her laugh.

"I don't know! I was hoping you had a lot to talk about." We both laughed before things went silent again. "The boys and I have been worried about you."

I looked over at her confused. "What do you mean you've been worried about me?"

She took a deep breath before glancing at me. "You've been distancing yourself, you're not as happy... there are moments when you just completely shut down."

"I don't know... lately it's just." I took a deep breath and glanced at her quickly. "Everything is just starting to bother me."

"Like what?" She quietly asked.

"Their band is getting bigger and better... soon they're going to be back on tour and going places and I'm... I'm going to be me, I've got nothing. I mean I'm doing nothing for my parents to be proud of, Braiden does better than me in school while he's working with the band... maybe if I was good at something... our parents wouldn't leave all the time," I admitted quietly.

"Emma... your songs are amazing!"

"Yeah, but even if I did something about, people are still going to think the only reason I'm doing it is because my brothers famous..."

"Why didn't you ever talk to someone about this?"

"The only people I can talk to are you and the guys... and they don't want to hear about this stuff."

"Well, you can talk to me about anything, whenever, even at three in the morning, okay?" I nodded and shot he a smile before turning back to look out the window.

After about ten more minutes, I looked at her nervously as we pulled up at an abandoned warehouse. "Were not here so you can kill me off...are we?" I joked as we got out of the car.

"Maybe..." I looked at her quickly before laughing when I realised she was joking.

She grabbed my hand quickly and pulled me through an unlocked door into the building. "Tay... please tell me what's going on!" I begged as we walked through dark corridors, I could see a door at the end of the hall with light coming from it.

"You'll know in about ten seconds."

As she opened the door, I saw all of the guys with their equipment and cameras around them.

"They're recording? Why didn't you just say?" I questioned walking towards them all while Tayler walked behind me with a smile on her face.

"We're not recording, you are," Riley explained as he walked closer.

"What? No!" I turned and tried to run out but Tayler stopped me quickly. "You guys! This isn't fair!" I whined as Riley carried me towards the middle of the room.

"You're doing this Emma-bear!" Thomas shouted over my moans as I tried to get out of Riley's arms.

"It's only us here! You sing in front of us all the time!" Braiden argued.

"If you're not happy with it then we can delete all of the filming," Connor imputed.

"Come on Emma!" Toby shouted over smiling.

"You guys will be the death of me..." I moaned letting Riley put down in the middle of their set up and handed me my guitar. They all cheered quickly before running to different places.

Tayler quickly rushed over and started to fix my hair. "Okay Emma! We've picked one of your songs that you've shown us and we've written parts for it but you just do whatever you normally do okay?" Connor instructed.

"What song?" I asked frantically.

"Holy Ground!" Braiden replied doing a little dance. I nodded before trying to calm myself.

Once I got a nod to start from Toby who was starting the recording, I took a deep breath and started.

_I was reminiscing just the other day,__  
><em>_While having coffee all alone and Lord, it took me away.__  
><em>_Back to a first-glance feeling on New York time.__  
><em>_Back when you fit in my poems like a perfect rhyme.__  
><em>_Took off faster than a green light, go,__  
><em>_Hey, you skip the conversation when you already know.__  
><em>_I left a note on the door with a joke we'd made,__  
><em>_And that was the first day._

_And darling, it was good never looking down.__  
><em>_And right there where we stood was holy ground._

_Spinning like a girl in a brand new dress,__  
><em>_We had this big wide city all to ourselves.__  
><em>_We blocked the noise with the sound of 'I need you',__  
><em>_And for the first time I had something to lose,__  
><em>_Well I guess we fell apart in the usual way.__  
><em>_And the story's got dust on every page,__  
><em>_Sometimes I wonder how you think about it now.__  
><em>_And I see your face in every crowd._

_Cause darling, it was good never looking down.__  
><em>_And right there where we stood was holy ground._

_Tonight I'm gonna dance for all that we've been through.__  
><em>_But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you.__  
><em>_Tonight I'm gonna dance like you were in this room.__  
><em>_But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you,_

_It was good never looking down.__  
><em>_And right there where we stood was holy ground._

_Tonight I'm gonna dance for all that we've been through.__  
><em>_But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you.__  
><em>_Tonight I'm gonna dance like you were in this room.__  
><em>_But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you._

I let out a laugh and looked at the floor shocked at how good it had gone.

"Really? One take? How come we never do it in one take?" Thomas moaned before smiling and running up to hug me. "Group hug!"

Once everyone was in the hug, I laughed slightly, "I'm still mad at you all!"

"Love you too Emma-bear," Braiden joked ruffling my hair.

...


	21. Fearless

A week later I was still slightly mad at the guys but I had forgiven them. I was happy that they had made me face my fear but I was still to scared to look at the video in case there was any bad comments.

Today I was meeting Riley at Starbucks to catch up seen as I hadn't seen the guys much because they had been busy planning their next cover which they were supposed to film later today, I still didn't know what it was.

"Hi," I said as I walked over to where Riley was already sitting with our drinks.

"You're late," he accused jokingly. "Sorry we haven't been able to hang out much lately.

"It's okay, I know you guys have been working on the cover and planning to go away to write your new album," I replied shrugging.

"You're still coming with us right?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah, plus Alex is going, I want to see him."

"More excited to see Gaskarth than hang out with me," Riley muttered as I laughed.

After talking for a while I took his hand as he helped me up. "Sorry I couldn't drive you here swell, I had to pick some things up for later," he explained as we walked to his car.

"It's fine, it was a nice walk," I replied as I shrugged.

"Braiden's bringing you later right?" Riley asked as we got to my house.

"Yeah I'll see you later," I answered leaning over to kiss him, "Rest your vocal chords." He laughed before closing my door for me.

When I walked in the house I noticed how quiet it was, "Guess no one's home," I muttered. I looked out the window and saw it had started to rain. I opened my window and sat on the ledge with my guitar smiling at the rain.

_There's somethin' 'bout the way_  
><em>The street looks when it's just rained<em>  
><em>There's a glow off the pavement<em>  
><em>you walk me to the car<em>  
><em>And you know I wanna ask you to dance right there<em>  
><em>In the middle of the parking lot<em>  
><em>Yeah<em>  
><em>Oh yeah<em>

_We're drivin' down the road_  
><em>I wonder if you know<em>  
><em>I'm tryin' so hard not to get caught up now<em>  
><em>But you're just so cool<em>  
><em>Run your hands through your hair<em>  
><em>Absent mindedly makin' me want you<em>

_And I don't know how it gets better than this_  
><em>You take my hand and drag me head first<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>  
><em>And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>

_So baby drive slow_  
><em>'til we run out of road in this one horse town<em>  
><em>I wanna stay right here in this passenger's seat<em>  
><em>You put your eyes on me<em>  
><em>In this moment now capture it, remember it<em>

_Cause I don't know how it gets better than this_  
><em>You take my hand and drag me head first<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>  
><em>And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>

_Well you stood there with me in the doorway_  
><em>My hands shake<em>  
><em>I'm not usually this way but<em>  
><em>You pull me in and I'm a little more brave<em>  
><em>It's the first kiss,<em>  
><em>It's flawless,<em>  
><em>Really something,<em>  
><em>It's fearless.<em>

_Oh yeah_  
><em>Cause' I don't know how it gets better than this<em>  
><em>You take my hand and drag me head first<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>  
><em>And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>

_Cuz I don't know how it gets better than this_  
><em>You take my hand and drag me head first<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>  
><em>And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress<em>  
><em>Fearless<em>

_Oh-oh_  
><em>Oh yeah<em>

I quickly jumped inside when I saw Braiden's car pull into the driveway. He beeped signalling me to go to his car, so I locked up the house and jumped in the car quickly.

"Bro."

"Mini me," Braiden replied reaching over to mess my hair.

"So where are you guys recording this video?"

"In Tayler's house, her dinning room is being remodelled so it looks pretty cool," he explained.

Once we got there, we rushed inside not to get wet and everyone was there already. "How are you here before us?" I asked shocked.

"It insults us that you are genuinely that shocked," Thomas gasped as he stood up.

"You wouldn't even be on time to your funeral," I joked as he hugged me, Connor slapped my head quickly before moving away so Riley couldn't hit him aswell.

"So do we get to know what the cover is now?" Tayler asked while helping Braiden set up his keyboard. I turned to Riley and gave a smile making him laugh.

"Were doing a mash-up of two songs by The Script," Connor explained as Riley wrapped his arm around me.

"Sounds good," I replied watching the others except Riley sort the cameras out.

"Dont distract me," Riley joked bumping his hip against mine before going to sit in his seat.

"Ready to start?" Connor asked the others.

_Going back to the corner_  
><em>where i first saw you<em>  
><em>Gonna camp in my sleeping bag<em>  
><em>I'm not gonna move<em>  
><em>Got some words on cardboard<em>  
><em>got your picture in my hand<em>  
><em>Saying:<em>

_Trying to make it work but man these times are hard_  
><em>She needs me now but I can't seem to find a time<em>  
><em>I've got a new job now in the unemployment line<em>  
><em>And we don't know how<em>  
><em>how we got into this mess it's a gods test<em>  
><em>Someone help us cause we're doing our best<em>  
><em>Trying to make it work but man these times are hard<em>

_Cos if one day you wake up_  
><em>and find that your missing me<em>  
><em>and your heart starts to wonder<em>  
><em>where on this earth i could be<em>  
><em>Thinking maybe you'd come back here<em>  
><em>to the place that we'd meet<em>  
><em>and you'd see me waiting for you<em>  
><em>on the corner of the street<em>  
><em>so I'm not moving<em>  
><em>I'm not moving<em>

_She's in line at the door with her head held high_  
><em>While I just lost my job but didn't lose my pride<em>  
><em>But we both know how<em>  
><em>how we're gonna make it work when it hurts<em>  
><em>When you pick yourself up you get kicked to the dirt<em>  
><em>Trying to make it work but man these times are hard<em>  
><em>Policeman says: Son you cant stay here<em>  
><em>I say: There's someone I'm waiting for if its a day -a month -a year<em>  
><em>Gotta stand my ground<em>  
><em>even if it rains or snows<em>  
><em>If she changes her mind<em>  
><em>this is the first place she will go<em>

_Cause we're smiling but we're close to tears_  
><em>Even after all these years<em>  
><em>We just now got the feeling that we're meeting<em>  
><em>For the first time<em>

_And maybe i'll get famous as the man who cant be moved_  
><em>and maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news<em>  
><em>and you'd come running to the corner<em>  
><em>cos you'll know its just for you<em>  
><em>I'm the man who cant be moved<em>  
><em>I'm the man who cant be moved<em>

_If one day you wake up_  
><em>and find that your missing me<em>  
><em>and your heart starts to wonder<em>  
><em>where on this earth i could be<em>  
><em>thinking maybe you'd come back here<em>  
><em>to the place that we'd meet<em>  
><em>and you'd see me waiting for you<em>  
><em>on the corner of the street so<em>

_I'm not moving (Oh these times are hard, Yeah they're making us crazy, Don't give up on me baby)_  
><em>I'm not moving<em>  
><em>I'm not moving (Oh these times are hard, Yeah they're making us crazy, Don't give up on me baby)<em>  
><em>I'm not moving<em>  
><em>Oh these times are hard, Yeah they're making us crazy, Don't give up on me baby (I'm the man who can't be moved, I'm the man who can't be moved)<em>  
><em>Oh these times are hard, Yeah they're making us crazy, Don't give up on me baby (I'm the man, I'm not moving)<em>

"Well, were going to have to do that again because Riley didn't stop making sex eyes at Emma," Thomas complained.

"Hey!" Riley, Braiden and I all shouted while the others laughed.

"Well, from the top," Connor shouted while laughing.


End file.
